JP2009124620A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of processing data in descending order of priority in printing data units irrespective of reception order or host terminal as an actual image forming processing order to a plurality of printing data thereof when receiving the plurality of printing data such as processing waiting. <P>SOLUTION: A receiving part 17 receives printing data output from a host terminal 12 and a control circuit part 18 analyses it. The analyzed printing data is temporarily stored in a storage part 19, and an image forming part 20 executes image formation processing based on the analysis result of the control circuit part 18. The control circuit part 18, when receiving a plurality of pieces of printing data at the same timing by the receiving part 17, analyses whether or not priority data for determining a previously set priority is contained in each piece of printing data in printing data units, and processes the plurality of pieces of printing data according to the set priority when the priority data is contained. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2009,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that executes image forming processing based on print data output from a host terminal, such as a printer-dedicated machine or a multifunction machine having a printer function.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, in an image forming apparatus such as a printer dedicated machine or a multifunction machine equipped with a printer function, it is connected to a host terminal such as a personal computer via a communication line, and print data such as documents and images created by the host terminal is received. It is well known that an image forming process is executed by receiving at a receiving unit.

  At this time, when the image forming apparatus is connected to a plurality of image forming apparatuses via a communication line, or when a plurality of types of documents and images are created on the same host terminal, for example, one print data In the middle of executing the image forming process based on the above, a plurality of print data may be received by the receiving unit at approximately the same time, and may wait for the image forming process.

  In such a case, the control circuit unit of the image forming apparatus generally performs the image forming process in the order received by the receiving unit.

  However, when a plurality of print data are received at the same time, if the image forming process is executed in the order of reception, for example, when an image forming process is performed on a conference material, the image forming process immediately before the meeting is held Even if urgently required, if the number of print data received by the receiving unit is large, or if the number of image forming processes or the number of copies based on the print data previously received by the receiving unit is large, There has been a problem that inconveniences such as materials not being in time for the meeting will occur.

  In an image forming apparatus such as a so-called network printer, the host terminal indicates how much print data is currently processed by the image forming apparatus or how much print data is waiting to be processed from a plurality of host terminals on the network line. The print data (job) being processed / standby can be deleted from the host terminal side unless there is a restriction such as special authority.

  However, if the print data output from the host terminal operated by another user is deleted from the plurality of print data and the print data is preferentially processed, the other user is unaware of the urgency. Will be deleted without permission.

Therefore, when multiple host terminals are connected via a communication line, personal authentication is performed for each host terminal and multiple print data are received at the same time. It is known that image formation processing is performed in order (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
JP 2004-343655 A

  However, in the image forming apparatus configured as described above, the priority of the image forming process order in units of print data cannot be defined and processed, and the actual priority (urgency) and the process order There was a problem that sometimes did not match.

  Therefore, in consideration of the above circumstances, the present invention prints the actual image formation processing order for the plurality of print data regardless of the reception order or the host terminal when receiving a plurality of print data such as waiting for processing. It is an object of the present invention to provide an image forming apparatus that can process data items in descending order of priority and improve versatility.

  An image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a receiving unit that receives print data output from a host terminal, a control circuit unit that analyzes print data received by the receiving unit, and temporary print data that is analyzed by the control circuit unit. A storage unit for storing, and an image forming unit for executing an image forming process using print data stored in the storage unit based on an analysis result of the control circuit unit, wherein the control circuit unit includes the receiving unit When a plurality of print data is received at the same time, after analyzing whether or not priority data for determining a preset priority is included in each print data for each print data unit, When the priority data is included in the print data, the plurality of print data is processed in the set priority, and when the priority data is not included in the print data, the order received by the receiving unit so Characterized by processing a serial plurality of print data.

  An image forming apparatus according to the present invention includes a receiving unit that receives print data output from a host terminal, a control circuit unit that analyzes setting data and image data included in the print data received by the receiving unit, A storage unit that temporarily stores the setting data analyzed by the control circuit unit in association with the image data, and an image forming process that uses the image data stored in the storage unit based on the setting data analyzed by the control circuit unit The control circuit unit is preset in each setting data for each print data unit when the receiving unit receives a plurality of print data at the same time. After analyzing whether or not priority data that determines the priority order is included, if the priority data is included in the setting data, a plurality of print data are processed and set in the set priority order. If it does not contain priority data over data, characterized in that processing the plurality of print data in the order received by the receiving unit.

  Furthermore, an image forming apparatus of the present invention includes a receiving unit that receives print data output from a host terminal, a control circuit unit that analyzes setting data and image data included in the print data received by the receiving unit, A storage unit that temporarily stores the setting data analyzed by the control circuit unit in association with the image data, and an image forming process that uses the image data stored in the storage unit based on the setting data analyzed by the control circuit unit An image forming unit that executes the printing, and the control circuit unit prints each print data when the receiving unit receives a plurality of print data in which at least a part of the image data includes document data at the same time. When document data includes priority data after analyzing whether or not priority data for determining a preset priority is included in each document data in units of data. In the priority order set by processing a plurality of print data, if does not contain priority data in the document data, wherein the processing the plurality of print data in the order received by the receiving unit.

  At this time, the control circuit unit preferably analyzes the keyword as the priority order data when a preset keyword is included in the file name or the document data in the setting data.

  Further, when there are a plurality of priority data in a plurality of print data units, the control circuit unit determines a predetermined priority from the priority of the priority data and the number of priority data in each print data unit. It is preferable to accumulate the number of points corresponding to, and to process the plurality of print data in order from the largest accumulated point.

  The image forming apparatus according to the present invention, when receiving a plurality of print data such as waiting for processing, prioritizes the actual image formation processing order for the plurality of print data in units of print data regardless of the reception order or the host terminal. Processing can be performed in descending order, and versatility can be improved.

  Next, an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a main operation in the image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 10 is a flowchart of priority determination in the image forming apparatus.

  In FIG. 1, an image forming apparatus 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention is connected to a personal computer 12 as a plurality of host terminals and a print server 13 via a network line 11.

  The personal computer 12 is not particularly limited, such as a desktop type or a notebook type. The personal computer 12 only needs to be able to create and output print data for image formation processing as a host terminal. 14, a mouse (including a touch pad) 15 as an operation means, a keyboard 16, and the like.

  The image forming apparatus 10 includes a receiving unit 17 that receives print data output from the personal computer 12 or the like via the network line 11, a control circuit unit 18 that analyzes the print data received by the receiving unit 17, and a control circuit unit. A storage unit (HDD) 19 that temporarily stores the print data analyzed in 18, and an image forming unit 20 that executes an image forming process using the print data stored in the storage unit 19 based on the analysis result of the control circuit unit 18. A ROM 21 storing a control program related to image forming processing and an image forming processing sequence control program of the present invention.

  The print data according to the present invention includes data for forming and outputting a document created using software installed on the personal computer 12, for example, driver information, creation Setting data such as the printing conditions such as the document file name, file extension, transfer paper size, number of copies, enlargement / reduction ratio, etc., and the source of the actual image to be output (for example, the display state of the monitor 14) Image data. Note that this image data includes, for example, image data such as JPG and JIF, as well as document data shared by a block code (character code) or the like.

  The receiving unit 17 receives the print data output from the personal computer 12 or the like, and outputs, for example, an error message indicating that the image forming process by the image forming unit 20 has been completed or a supplement of transfer paper to the personal computer 12 or the like. It has a function as an interface.

  The control circuit unit 18 analyzes the setting data such as the printing conditions and the image data from the print data received by the receiving unit 17, and generates and stores the image data for actually performing the image forming process by associating them. Store in unit 19. The control circuit unit 18 deletes the image data from the storage unit 19 after the image forming unit 20 executes the image forming process.

  For example, a large-capacity hard disk drive (HDD) is used as the storage unit 19, and when there are a plurality of print data received by the receiving unit 17, the image forming processing speed is increased and the personal computer 12 that is the print data output source is used. In order to enable continuation of the operation in the above, the plurality of print data are sequentially stored after analysis by the control circuit unit 18. The storage unit 19 stores a preset priority order, corresponding keywords, and the like in a database. At this time, the database is preferably managed by a control program stored in the ROM 21 instead of being fixed in the ROM 21 in consideration of addition / change of keywords and the like.

  As a result, as shown in FIG. 2, the control circuit unit 18 performs image forming processing in the image forming unit 20 based on the print data output from the personal computer 12 (step S1). If the print data is received by the receiving unit 17 and is in a process waiting state (step S2), if there are a plurality of other print data (step S3), the processing order of the plurality of print data in the process waiting state is changed. Processing is sequentially performed in the priority order stored in the database (step S4).

  That is, when a plurality of print data are waiting for processing, there is a possibility that print data that requires urgent and print data that does not require urgent are mixed.

  Therefore, the control circuit unit 18 processes the print data in a priority order considering the urgency regardless of the print data reception order.

  Here, priorities between those that require urgency and those that do not need to be given are, for example, keywords such as “most important”, “emergency”, and “temporary” in the file name of the created document included in the print data (setting data). It is most important if it is included, important if keywords such as “important” and “meeting” are included, and priority if keywords such as “regular”, “priority” and “meeting” are included Etc. can be prioritized.

  In addition to such keywords, file extensions, such as file extensions for in-house developed software, file extensions for sales software, file extensions for meeting material creation software, etc. are specified. Therefore, it is possible to prioritize the most important / important / priority with a file extension for a word processor that is normally used. At this time, the file name and the file extension described above may be combined.

  In addition, considering the case where the number of keywords to be prioritized is small or the possibility of a hit is low, for example, a meeting material that is likely to require urgency is usually a document and an attached image. Since the image data of one print data is often composed of (photograph, graph, etc.), the entire document data included in the image data is keyword-searched by the control circuit unit 18 and prioritized. Also good.

  In addition, since a plurality of keywords may exist in the file name, file identifier, document data, etc., for example, the most important keyword is 3 points, the important keyword is 2 points, and the priority keyword is 1 point. It is also possible to prioritize by setting the points to the points and calculating and comparing the accumulated points of the keywords in units of print data by the control circuit unit 18.

  Accordingly, the operator of the personal computer 12 using the image forming apparatus 10 of the present invention puts a keyword set in advance in the file name of the file created by the operator, so that the priority (emergency) at the time of the image forming process is set. Degree) can be set.

  For example, when a plurality of print data is waiting to be processed, the control circuit unit 18 performs a keyword search in the order in which the print data is received.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the control circuit unit 18 searches for the presence or absence of the most important keyword (step S41). If there is the most important keyword, the control circuit unit 18 adds points according to the number and stores it in the HDD 19 (step S42). .

  Next, the control circuit unit 18 searches for presence / absence of an important keyword (step S43). If there is an important keyword, the control circuit unit 18 adds points according to the number and stores it in the HDD 19 (step S44).

  Further, the control circuit unit 18 searches for the presence or absence of a priority keyword (step S45), and if there is a priority keyword, adds points according to the number of priority keywords and stores them in the HDD 19 (step S46).

  The control circuit unit 18 that has searched for each keyword stores all the points in the HDD 19 (step S47).

  Thereafter, the control circuit unit 18 performs a similar keyword search for other data (step S48), and then compares these total points to determine the priority (step S49).

  Specifically, when three print data are stored in the storage unit 19 as print data to be processed, the file names thereof are “071123 regular meeting material”, “temporary meeting material”, and “0711118 emergency meeting”. Assuming that the receiving unit 17 receives “data” in this order, the accumulated point (P) of each file is regular = 1P, conference = 1P, and the file “0711123 regular conference material” is cumulative P = 2P. In addition, the file “temporary meeting material” is accumulated P = 4P with extraordinary = 3P and meeting = 1P. Furthermore, “Emergency = 3P” and “Conference = 2P”, and “0711118 Emergency Meeting Material” is accumulated P = 5P.

  Thereby, the control circuit unit 18 sets the actual image forming processing order to “0711118 emergency meeting material”, “temporary meeting material”, and “0711123 regular meeting material”.

  As described above, according to the image forming apparatus of the present invention, in order to distribute a material necessary for a meeting or the like that easily receives time constraints (urgentness), in the image forming process based on the print data for the material, Even if it is output after print data such as other materials, the image forming process can be executed first depending on the priority.

1 is an explanatory diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a main operation in the image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a flowchart of priority determination in the image forming apparatus according to the embodiment of the present disclosure.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Image forming apparatus 17 ... Reception part 18 ... Control circuit part 19 ... Memory | storage part 20 ... Image formation part

Claims (5)

A receiving unit that receives print data output from the host terminal, a control circuit unit that analyzes the print data received by the receiving unit, a storage unit that temporarily stores the print data analyzed by the control circuit unit, and the control An image forming unit that executes image forming processing using print data stored in the storage unit based on the analysis result of the circuit unit,
When the receiving unit receives a plurality of print data at the same time, the control circuit unit includes priority order data for determining a priority order set in advance in each print data unit. When the priority data is included in the print data, the plurality of print data is processed with the set priority, and the priority data is not included in the print data In the image forming apparatus, the plurality of print data are processed in the order received by the receiving unit. A receiving unit that receives print data output from the host terminal, a control circuit unit that analyzes setting data and image data included in the print data received by the receiving unit, and setting data analyzed by the control circuit unit; A storage unit that temporarily stores the image data in association with the image data; and an image forming unit that executes an image forming process using the image data stored in the storage unit based on the setting data analyzed by the control circuit unit. ,
When the receiving unit receives a plurality of print data at the same time, the control circuit unit includes priority order data for determining a preset priority order in each setting data for each print data unit. If priority data is included in the setting data, multiple print data are processed with the set priority, and if the priority data is not included in the setting data The image forming apparatus, wherein the plurality of print data are processed in the order received by the receiving unit. A receiving unit that receives print data output from the host terminal, a control circuit unit that analyzes setting data and image data included in the print data received by the receiving unit, and setting data analyzed by the control circuit unit; A storage unit that temporarily stores the image data in association with the image data; and an image forming unit that executes an image forming process using the image data stored in the storage unit based on the setting data analyzed by the control circuit unit. ,
When the receiving unit receives a plurality of print data containing document data in at least a part of the image data at the same time, the control circuit unit sets the print data in advance in each document data. After analyzing whether or not the priority data for determining the determined priority is included, if the document data includes the priority data, the plurality of print data is processed with the set priority. An image forming apparatus that processes the plurality of print data in the order received by the receiving unit when priority data is not included in document data.   The control circuit unit, when a preset keyword is included in a file name or the document data in the setting data, analyzes the keyword as the priority order data. The image forming apparatus according to 3.   When there are a plurality of priority data in a plurality of print data units, the control circuit unit corresponds to a predetermined priority from the priority of the priority data and the number of priority data in each print data unit. 5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the number of points to be accumulated is accumulated, and the plurality of print data are processed in order from the largest number of accumulated points.

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