JP2011000802A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus which forms a correct image even if auxiliary information used in the case of image forming has been updated in the image forming apparatus which executes a plurality of image forming instructions in a random order.SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus 1 includes an image formation instructing information holding part 6 for holding image formation instructing information including an image forming instruction for instructing the forming of an image, an auxiliary information storage part 8 which stores auxiliary information used together with the image formation instructing information in the case of forming the image in making it associated with the image formation instructing information, an auxiliary information holding part 11 for holding the auxiliary information used in the case of forming the image, an image forming part 12 for forming the image based on the image formation instructing information held in the image formation instructing information holding part 6 and the auxiliary information held in the auxiliary information holding part, and an auxiliary information copy part 9 which makes the auxiliary information associated with the image formation instructing information before the image formation instructing information which the image forming part 12 intends to process copied to the auxiliary information holding part 11 from the auxiliary information storage part 8.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus.

  Patent Document 1, in variable printing, based on the job information, call the resource file generates variable printing information, on the basis of such a variable print information, wherein the printing process system for printing a large number of prints by the variable printing Has been.

JP 2008-204373 A

  The problems to be solved by the present invention is an image forming apparatus for executing a plurality of image forming commands out of order, in the case where the auxiliary information for use when the image formation is also updated, the image forming apparatus for forming a correct image Is to provide.

  In order to solve the above problems, an image forming apparatus according to a first aspect of the present invention includes an image forming instruction information holding unit that holds image forming instruction information including an image forming instruction that instructs to form an image, and forms an image. Auxiliary information storage unit that stores auxiliary information used together with the image formation instruction information in association with the image formation instruction information, and an auxiliary information storage unit that holds the auxiliary information used when forming an image An image forming unit that forms an image based on the image forming instruction information held in the image forming instruction information holding unit and the auxiliary information held in the auxiliary information holding unit, and the image forming unit to process An auxiliary information copying unit that copies the auxiliary information associated with the image forming instruction information before the image forming instruction information from the auxiliary information storage unit to the auxiliary information holding unit; To.

  An image forming apparatus according to a second aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the first aspect, wherein the image held in the image forming instruction information holding unit after the image is formed by the image forming unit. Of the formation instruction information, the auxiliary information associated with the image formation instruction information received before the image formation instruction information received first is transferred from the auxiliary information storage unit to the auxiliary information holding unit. An auxiliary information deleting unit that copies and deletes the auxiliary information from the auxiliary information storage unit.

  An image forming apparatus according to a third aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to the first or second aspect, wherein the auxiliary information copying unit includes the image forming instruction information to be processed as the image forming instruction information. The image formation received after the image forming instruction information processed immediately before by the image forming unit when the image forming instruction information is received after the image forming instruction information processed immediately before by the forming unit. The auxiliary information associated with the instruction information is copied from the auxiliary information storage unit to the auxiliary information holding unit.

  An image forming apparatus according to a fourth aspect of the present invention is the image forming apparatus according to any one of the first to third aspects, wherein a plurality of the auxiliary information associated with the same image forming instruction information is received. In this case, the auxiliary information storage management unit overwrites the previous auxiliary information stored in the auxiliary information storage unit with the subsequent auxiliary information.

  According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program comprising: an image forming instruction information holding unit for holding image forming instruction information including an image forming instruction for instructing image formation; Auxiliary information storage unit that stores auxiliary information used together with image formation instruction information in association with the image formation instruction information, an auxiliary information holding unit that holds the auxiliary information used when forming an image, and the image An image forming unit that forms an image based on the image forming instruction information held in the forming instruction information holding unit and the auxiliary information held in the auxiliary information holding unit, and the image to be processed by the image forming unit An auxiliary information copying unit that copies the auxiliary information associated with the image formation instruction information before the formation instruction information from the auxiliary information storage unit to the auxiliary information holding unit To function as an image forming apparatus having a.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the first aspect, in the image forming apparatus that executes a plurality of image formation commands in random order, a correct image is formed even when auxiliary information used in image formation is updated. be able to.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the second aspect, it is possible to reduce the amount of auxiliary information stored in the auxiliary information storage unit.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the third aspect, the amount of auxiliary information copied from the auxiliary information storage unit to the auxiliary information holding unit can be reduced.

  According to the image forming apparatus of the fourth aspect, the amount of auxiliary information stored in the auxiliary information storage unit can be reduced.

  According to the computer program according to the fifth aspect, in the image forming apparatus that executes the plurality of image formation commands in random order, even when the auxiliary information used in the image formation is updated, the computer is correct. It can function as an image forming apparatus capable of forming an image.

1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the image forming apparatus in time series. It is a figure which shows the electronic file accumulate | stored or hold | maintained in the auxiliary | assistant information storage part, the auxiliary | assistant information holding | maintenance part, and the image formation instruction | indication information holding | maintenance part at the time of complete | finishing all reception (A point in FIG. 2). It is a figure which shows the electronic file accumulate | stored or hold | maintained in the auxiliary information storage part at the time of the 1st image output being processed, an auxiliary information holding part, and an image formation instruction | indication information holding part. It is a figure which shows the electronic file accumulate | stored or hold | maintained in the auxiliary information storage part at the time of the 2nd image output being processed, an auxiliary information holding part, and an image formation instruction information holding part. It is a figure which shows the electronic file accumulate | stored or hold | maintained in the auxiliary information storage part at the time of the 3rd image output being processed, an auxiliary information holding part, and an image formation instruction information holding part. It is a figure which shows the electronic file accumulate | stored or hold | maintained at the auxiliary | assistant information storage part, the auxiliary | assistant information holding | maintenance part, and image formation instruction | indication information holding | maintenance part when the 3rd image output is complete | finished. It is a figure which shows the electronic file accumulate | stored or hold | maintained at the auxiliary information storage part at the time of the 4th image output being processed, an auxiliary information holding part, and an image formation instruction information holding part.

  FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of an image forming apparatus 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 1 is physically a kind of information processing apparatus, and a dedicated apparatus may be used, or a general-purpose information processing apparatus, a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a memory, an input / output interface, a monitor A general computer having an external storage device or the like may be used as the image forming apparatus 1. In that case, the image forming apparatus 1 is virtually realized by executing a program for operating the computer as the image forming apparatus 1 on the computer. Program for causing a computer to operate as the image forming apparatus 1 is, for example DVD-ROM (DVD-Read Only Memory), a CD-ROM and provided by being recorded in the (Compact Disk Read Only Memory) any information recording medium such as a Alternatively, it may be provided as a computer-readable electrical signal via an electrical communication line such as a public line represented by the Internet.

  The image forming apparatus 1 includes an image formation instruction information receiving unit 2 and an auxiliary information receiving unit 3, and receives image formation instruction information and auxiliary information from the outside. Here, the image formation instruction information is information including an image formation instruction that is information for instructing the image forming apparatus 1 to form a desired image. The image formation instruction information may include information other than the image formation instruction, for example, information such as document data and image data indicating the content of the image, information on the layout of the generated image, and the like. It may be. The auxiliary information is information used to create an image when an image is formed based on an image formation instruction. For example, image data to be inserted into the image, information for replacing a part of the content of the image, image background and frame data, and the like can be mentioned. More specifically, as an example, a present image forming apparatus 1 is variable printing machine, when and performs variable printing as the image forming, the image forming instruction is a print command variable printing, auxiliary information, These are forms that are frame data used when creating individual print images for variable printing, variable information that is information to be replaced for each individual printed matter, and image data that is inserted into the printed matter. Of course, the image forming apparatus 1 is not limited to a variable printing machine. In addition, if the printing press has a function of inserting a symbol or logo indicating that it is a confidential document in the printed material, the information indicating the symbol or logo corresponds to the auxiliary information. Further, image formation does not necessarily mean printing. The created image does not need to be printed on a paper medium, and may be displayed on an image display device such as a liquid crystal display or a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) or on electronic paper, or an electric signal such as a facsimile. Or may be recorded on an arbitrary information recording medium as an electronic file.

  Further, in this embodiment, the image formation instruction information receiving unit 2 and the auxiliary information receiving unit 3 are connected to an information processing apparatus such as an external computer through an electric communication line, and the image formation instruction information and auxiliary information are used as electric signals. Although it receives, it is not necessarily limited to this form. For example, such information may be read from an arbitrary information storage medium. Furthermore, although illustrated with the image forming instruction information receiving section 2 in FIG. 1 the auxiliary information receiving unit 3 as separate, this is for convenience only based on distinction on the function, both the same input-output interface May be used. The same applies to the other functional blocks shown in FIG.

  The image formation instruction information received by the image formation instruction information receiving unit 2 is transferred to the image formation instruction information management unit 4 as indicated by an arrow 101. When receiving the image formation instruction information, the image formation instruction information management unit 4 receives the identification information from the identification information issuing unit 5 as indicated by an arrow 102. Here, the identification information may be information that can specify at least the order in which the image formation instruction information is received. In the present embodiment, a serial number is used as an example. That is, it is an integer that increases as 1, 2, 3,... Each time image formation instruction information is received. The identification information is not limited to a serial number. In addition, for example, information indicating the date and time when the image formation instruction information is received may be used, or a symbol that is not a serial number may be used. In any case, any identification information may be used as long as the order in which the image formation instruction information is received can be specified by some means.

  The image formation instruction information management unit 4 adds the issued identification information as indicated by an arrow 103 and causes the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 to hold the image formation instruction information. Here, the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 is an HDD (Hard Disk Drive), but is not limited thereto, and an arbitrary information recording medium such as a memory may be used. The image formation instruction information management unit 4 notifies the identification information issuing unit 5 that the image formation instruction information has been received, as indicated by an arrow 104.

  The auxiliary information received by the auxiliary information receiving unit 3 is transferred to the auxiliary information managing unit 7 as indicated by an arrow 105. When the auxiliary information management unit 7 receives the auxiliary information, the auxiliary information management unit 7 receives the identification information from the identification information issuing unit 5 as indicated by an arrow 106. Such identification information is the same as the serial number to which the image forming instruction information management unit 4 is issued. Accordingly, the correspondence between the image formation instruction information and the auxiliary information is grasped by comparing the identification information issued for the image formation instruction information with the identification information issued for the auxiliary information. In other words, when the identification information is issued, the auxiliary information is associated with the image formation instruction information. As described above, the identification information is not limited to the serial number.

  The auxiliary information management unit 7 adds the issued identification information and stores the auxiliary information in the auxiliary information storage unit 8 as indicated by an arrow 107. The auxiliary information storage unit 8 may be an arbitrary information recording medium like the image formation instruction information holding unit 6, and is an HDD here. When two or more pieces of auxiliary information are received at different timings, the subsequent auxiliary information may include information for updating the previous auxiliary information. For example, an electronic file with the same name whose contents are updated. In this case, the auxiliary information storage unit 8 does not overwrite the previous auxiliary information with the subsequent auxiliary information, and stores the previous auxiliary information and the subsequent auxiliary information separately for the auxiliary information having different identification information. . For auxiliary information with the same identification information, that is, auxiliary information associated with the same image formation instruction information, the previous auxiliary information is overwritten with the subsequent auxiliary information. In this case, image formation using the previous auxiliary information is not performed. Of course, all the auxiliary information may be stored in the auxiliary information storage unit 8 without being overwritten.

  The identification information issuing unit 5 stores therein a serial number to be issued as identification information, and issues identification information to the image formation instruction information management unit 4 and the auxiliary information management unit 7. When the serial number to be issued is notified by the arrow 104 from the image forming instruction information management unit 4, the serial number held inside is incremented. In this way, an image formation instruction information (referred to as a previous image formation instruction information) after receiving the receive auxiliary information, and receives another image formation instruction information (referred to as an image formation instruction information after) In this case, the same serial number as the subsequent image formation instruction information is issued as identification information to the auxiliary information received between the reception of the previous image formation instruction information and the reception of the subsequent image formation instruction information. . Of course, this is only an example of a procedure for issuing identification information. In addition, the serial number may be incremented simultaneously with the issuance of the identification information for the image formation instruction information, or the serial number may be incremented for every issue of the identification information. Further, as described above, information that is not a serial number may be used as identification information.

  The auxiliary information stored in the auxiliary information storage unit 8 is copied to the auxiliary information holding unit 11 by the auxiliary information copying unit 9 and the auxiliary information deleting unit 10 (arrows 108, 109, 110, 111). Details of this operation will be described later.

  The auxiliary information holding unit 11 is an information storage device that holds auxiliary information used by the image forming unit 12. The auxiliary information holding unit 11 may also be an arbitrary information recording medium, and an HDD is used in this embodiment. Incidentally, in FIG. 1, the image formation instruction information holding section 6, while the auxiliary information storage unit 8 and the auxiliary information holding unit 11 shown separately, they are physically may not necessarily be isolated. For example, by setting a partition in the same HDD or creating different folders on the file system, each partition or folder is assigned to the image formation instruction information holding unit 6, the auxiliary information storage unit 8, and the auxiliary information holding unit 11. May be assigned to each.

  The image forming unit 12 forms an image based on the image forming instruction information held in the image forming instruction information holding unit 6 and the auxiliary information held in the auxiliary information holding unit 11. That is, one of the image formation instruction information held in the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 is read as indicated by an arrow 112, and necessary auxiliary information is transferred from the auxiliary information holding unit 11 to the arrow 113 according to the image formation instruction information. Read further as shown in. Then, an image is formed from the read image formation instruction information and auxiliary information, and transferred to the image output unit 13 as indicated by an arrow 114.

  The image forming instruction information read and processed by the image forming unit 12 is not necessarily in the order received by the image forming apparatus 1. For example, if the priority image forming instruction information is attached may perform processing in descending order of the priority, also, the timing of outputting a desired image on the image forming apparatus 1 specifies the user Also good. At this time, when processing certain image formation instruction information, the auxiliary information associated with the image formation instruction information and the auxiliary information received before receiving the image formation instruction information are used for image formation, and then received. The auxiliary information is not used for image formation. This is because the auxiliary information received after the reception of the image formation instruction information may update the auxiliary information received before that.

  Therefore, the image forming apparatus 1 performs the following operation. That is, the image forming unit 12 reads out the image forming instruction information to be processed from the image forming instruction information holding unit 6 (arrow 112). Then, the image forming unit 12 transmits the identification information of the image forming instruction information to the auxiliary information copying unit 9 as indicated by an arrow 115. Based on the identification information, the auxiliary information copying unit 9 reads auxiliary information associated with the image formation instruction information before the image formation instruction information to be processed from the auxiliary information storage unit 8 (arrow 108), and the auxiliary information holding unit 11 is copied (arrow 109). More specifically, auxiliary information having identification information that is the same as or younger than the identification information of the image formation instruction information to be processed may be copied. At this time, if duplicate information is already held in the auxiliary information holding unit 11, the auxiliary information is overwritten. Further, when copying a plurality of auxiliary information, the copying is performed in the order in which the auxiliary information is received. At this time, the auxiliary information copying unit 9 refers to the identification information of the image formation instruction information processed immediately before being held in the identification information holding unit 14, and this operation will be described later. When the copying is completed, the auxiliary information copying unit 9 transmits a signal indicating that the copying is completed to the image forming unit 12 (arrow 116).

  Here, the auxiliary information copying unit 9 copies the plurality of auxiliary information in the order received, when the auxiliary information to be copied is duplicated, the latest auxiliary information is copied to the auxiliary information holding unit 11. This is to hold it. Therefore, such processing is not necessarily limited to the operation of copying auxiliary information in the order of reception. For example, when there is overlapping auxiliary information, the received timing and date are compared. Only the newest auxiliary information may be copied to the auxiliary information holding unit 11.

  Upon receiving notification that copying has been completed, the image forming unit 12 reads necessary auxiliary information from the auxiliary information holding unit 11 as indicated by an arrow 113 in accordance with image forming instruction information to be processed, and forms an image. The image forming method is not particularly limited. In the present embodiment, the image forming unit 12 has a function as a so-called RIP (Raster Image Processor), generates a raster image, and transfers it to the image output unit 13. When the image forming process is completed, as indicated by an arrow 117, the image forming unit 12 notifies the identification information holding unit 14 of the identification information given to the image forming instruction information that has been processed. The identification information holding unit 14 holds the identification information. At the same time, the image forming unit 12 notifies the auxiliary information deleting unit 10 that the image forming process has been completed, as indicated by an arrow 118. Further, the image formation instruction information that has been processed is deleted from the image formation instruction information holding unit 6. Alternatively, information indicating that the processing is completed may be added to the image formation instruction information, or the image formation instruction information may be moved to a storage unit that stores the processed image formation instruction information. In any case, unprocessed image formation instruction information is distinguished from processed image formation instruction information.

  The identification information held in the identification information holding unit 14 is used by the auxiliary information copying unit 9 in the next image formation. At this time, the identification information holding unit 14 holds the identification information of the image formation instruction information processed immediately before. Auxiliary information copying unit 9, when copying from the auxiliary information storage unit 8 to the auxiliary information holding unit 11 the auxiliary information, and acquires to indicate identification information of the image forming instruction information processed in the immediately preceding arrow 119 . If the identification information of the image formation instruction information to be processed is larger than the identification information of the image formation instruction information processed immediately before, it is the same as the identification information of the image formation instruction information processed immediately before this. The auxiliary information given the identification information of the younger serial number is not copied. This is because such auxiliary information has already been copied to the auxiliary information holding unit 11 in the immediately preceding image formation and need not be copied again. On the other hand, when the identification information of the image formation instruction information to be processed is smaller than the identification information of the image formation instruction information processed immediately before, it is necessary to copy again. This is because in this case, there is a possibility that the auxiliary information is overwritten by information updated by the immediately preceding process, and it is necessary to overwrite such auxiliary information again with the information before update.

  In other words, if the image formation instruction information to be processed is received after the image formation instruction information processed immediately before, the image after the image formation instruction information processed immediately before Only the auxiliary information associated with the formation instruction information needs to be copied. Of course, all the auxiliary information associated with the image formation instruction information before the image formation instruction information to be processed may be simply copied without performing such a process.

  When the auxiliary information deleting unit 10 receives a notification from the image forming unit 12 that the processing is completed (arrow 118), the auxiliary information deleting unit 10 refers to the image forming instruction information holding unit 6 and identifies the unprocessed image forming instruction information. Among the information, the youngest identification information is acquired (arrow 120). In other words, among the unprocessed image formation instruction information held in the image formation instruction information holding unit 6, the image formation instruction information received first is specified. Then, the auxiliary information deleting unit 10 sends auxiliary information having identification information younger than the acquired identification information to the auxiliary information holding unit 11 as indicated by arrows 110 and 111 among the auxiliary information stored in the auxiliary information storage unit 8. And move. That is, among the unprocessed image formation instruction information held in the image formation instruction information holding unit 6, the auxiliary associated with the image formation instruction information received earlier than the image formation instruction information received first. The information is copied to the auxiliary information holding unit 11 and then deleted from the auxiliary information storage unit 8. Specifically, the auxiliary information provided with the serial number smaller than the serial number that is the acquired identification information as the identification information is moved from the auxiliary information storage unit 8 to the auxiliary information holding unit 11. Other This among the image formation instruction unprocessed information, most prior image formation instruction information received also associated with the image forming instruction information received previously auxiliary information is received anymore from the later This is because the auxiliary information is not overwritten and used. When the auxiliary information is copied from the auxiliary information storage unit 8 to the auxiliary information holding unit 11, the image forming instruction information processed immediately before from the identification information holding unit 14 is the same as in the case of the auxiliary information copying unit 9. Is obtained (arrow 121), and only the auxiliary information associated with the image formation instruction information after the image formation instruction information is copied. The deletion of the auxiliary information from the auxiliary information storage unit 8 is performed regardless of the image formation instruction information processed immediately before.

  The image output unit 13 outputs the image formed by the image forming unit 12 in an arbitrary format. In this embodiment, the image output unit 13 is a printing machine, and performs printing on a paper medium based on a raster image received from the image forming unit 12. Of course, the printing machine is an example of the image output unit 13 and may output in other formats. For example, displaying an image on the image display device and an electronic paper such as a liquid crystal display, a CRT, or to output as an electric signal for facsimile transmission or to record any information recording medium as an electronic file, an electric communication line Or send it to other computers.

  The above is the description of the image forming apparatus 1 according to the embodiment of the present invention. In order to facilitate understanding of the image forming apparatus 1, the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 will be described below using specific examples. . Note that this description is an example of the operation of the image forming apparatus 1, and the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 is not limited to the operation in the description. In the description of this specific example, refer to FIG. 1 as necessary.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the operation of the image forming apparatus 1 in time series. In this specific example, the image forming apparatus 1 receives the auxiliary information five times and receives the image forming instruction information four times, and then performs image formation four times based on the received image forming instruction information. An arrow line 15 drawn horizontally in the center of the figure is a time axis, and shows the passage of time from left to right in the figure. An item described on the upper side of the time axis 15 means reception, and an item described on the lower side of the time axis 15 means output.

  In this specific example, first, auxiliary information 16 is received. The auxiliary information 16 is indicated by a box in the figure, and the “auxiliary information” at the top indicates that the information is auxiliary information. Further, “teikei.frm” and “yamada.jpg (1)” on the lower side respectively indicate electronic file names as auxiliary information. The electronic file “teikei.frm” is image layout and frame information, and “yamada.jpg” is image data. The number in parentheses after “yamada.jpg” is an identifier given for convenience in order to distinguish each electronic file because a plurality of electronic files “yamada.jpg” are received in this specific example. When the auxiliary information 16 is received, the serial number held in the identification information issuing unit 5 is “1”, and the electronic files “teikei.frm” and “yamada.jpg (1) included in the auxiliary information 16 are included. "1" is added as identification information and stored in the auxiliary information storage unit 8.

  Subsequently, image formation instruction information 17 is received. In the upper part of the box showing the image formation instruction information 17 in the figure, there is a description indicating that the information is the image formation instruction information, and below that is the electronic file name which is the image formation instruction information 17 “Job1.job” is shown. Further, the file name of auxiliary information used by the image forming instruction information 17 is shown below in parentheses. It can be seen that the image formation instruction information 17 uses “teikei.frm” and “yamada.jpg”. Identification information “1” is assigned to the electronic file “job1.job”, which is the image formation instruction information 17, similarly to the auxiliary information 16, and is held in the image formation instruction information holding unit 6. Thereafter, the serial number held in the identification information issuing unit 5 is incremented by 1 and becomes “2”.

  Similarly, the identification information “2” is included in the auxiliary information 20 in the electronic file “suzuki.jpg (1)” included in the auxiliary information 18 and the electronic file “job2.job” included in the image formation instruction information 19. the "yamada.jpg (2)" and the electronic file "job3.job" included in the image formation instruction information 21 identification information "3" is assigned, the auxiliary information storage unit 8 and the image formation instruction information holding section 6 Each is stored or retained.

  Furthermore, “4” is assigned as identification information to the electronic file “suzuki.jpg (2)” included in the received auxiliary information 22 and stored in the auxiliary information storage unit 8. Subsequently, the auxiliary information 23 is received. The identification information given to the electronic file “suzuki.jpg (3)” included in the information is also “4”. At this time, the auxiliary information management unit 7 assigns the same identification information to the duplicate information, in this case, the electronic file having the same name, so the electronic file “suzuki. jpg (2) "is overwritten with" suzuki.jpg (3) ".

  Finally, the image formation instruction information 24 is received, the identification information “4” is given to the electronic file “job4.job”, and is held in the image formation instruction information holding unit 6.

  3 shows an electronic file stored or held in the auxiliary information storage unit 8, the auxiliary information holding unit 11, and the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 at the time when all the above receptions are completed (point A in FIG. 2). FIG. The auxiliary information storage unit 8 and the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 show the identification information given to the left side of the electronic file name. The identification information may be added directly to the electronic file, or a separate electronic file that holds the correspondence between the identification information and the electronic file is created separately, and the identification information is referenced by referring to the electronic file each time. May be recognized. At this time, auxiliary information is not held in the auxiliary information holding unit 11.

  Returning to FIG. 2, the image forming apparatus 1 subsequently outputs images in the order of image outputs 25, 26, 27, and 28. At the bottom of the box indicating each image output, the electronic file name of the image formation instruction information processed by each image output is shown. In this specific example, as shown, the image output 25 is the image formation instruction information 19, the image output 26 is the image formation instruction information 21, the image output 27 is the image formation instruction information 17, and the image output 28 is the image output The formation instruction information 24 is processed. That is, the processing is performed in the order of the second, third, first, and fourth in the order in which the image formation instruction information is received.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating electronic files stored or held in the auxiliary information storage unit 8, the auxiliary information holding unit 11, and the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 when the first image output 25 is processed. . At this time, the image formation instruction information to be processed is “job2.job”, and the identification information is “2”. Therefore, the files “teikei.frm”, “yamada.jpg (1)” and “suzuki.jpg (1)”, which are auxiliary information having identification information of “2” or less, are indicated by arrows in the figure. The auxiliary information copying unit 9 copies the auxiliary information storage unit 8 to the auxiliary information holding unit 11. In order to clarify the image formation instruction information to be processed, it is shown surrounded by a broken line in the figure. Then, the image forming unit 12 refers to “job2.job” and forms an image using both “teikei.frm” and “suzuki.jpg (1)” files stored in the auxiliary information holding unit 11. To do. When the image formation is completed, the identification information holding unit 14 holds “2” that is the identification information of the image formation instruction information that has been processed. Further, the auxiliary information deleting unit 10 is notified that the image formation is completed, but the smallest one of the identification information of the image formation instruction information held in the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 is “1”. Since auxiliary information having identification information less than “1” is not stored in the auxiliary information storage unit 8, the auxiliary information deletion unit 10 does nothing.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing electronic files stored or held in the auxiliary information storage unit 8, the auxiliary information holding unit 11, and the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 when the second image output 26 is processed. . At this time, since the identification information of “job3.job” which is the image formation instruction information to be processed is “3”, the auxiliary information whose identification information is “3” or less is copied by the auxiliary information copying unit 9. Further, since the identification information held in the identification information holding unit 14 is “2”, the auxiliary information whose identification information is “2” or less need not be copied. As a result, as indicated by the arrow, only “yamada.jpg (2)” having the identification information “3” is copied to the auxiliary information holding unit 11. At this time, “yamada.jpg (1)” already held in the auxiliary information holding unit 11 is overwritten. In this state, the image forming unit 12 refers to “job3.job”, and uses both the “teikei.frm” and “yamada.jpg (2)” files stored in the auxiliary information holding unit 11 to generate images. Form. Thereafter, “3” is held in the identification information holding unit 14, and the auxiliary information deleting unit 10 does nothing as in the first image output 25.

  FIG. 6 is a diagram illustrating electronic files stored or held in the auxiliary information storage unit 8, the auxiliary information holding unit 11, and the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 when the third image output 27 is processed. . At this time, since the identification information of “job1.job” which is the image formation instruction information to be processed is “1”, the auxiliary information whose identification information is “1” or less is copied by the auxiliary information copying unit 9. The identification information held in the identification information holding unit 14 is “3”, which is larger than the identification information “1” of the image formation instruction information being processed. Therefore, all the auxiliary information whose identification information is “1” or less is copied by the auxiliary information copying unit 9. As a result, as shown by the arrows, both the files “teikei.frm” and “yamada.jpg (1)” are copied again to the auxiliary information holding unit 11 and overwrite the electronic files already held. Since the image forming unit 12 processes “job1.job” in this state, “teikei.frm” and “yamada.jpg (1)” are used as auxiliary information. That is, “yamada.jpg (2)”, which is electronic data included in the auxiliary information 20 received after the image formation instruction information 17, is not used when the image formation instruction information 17 is processed.

  FIG. 7 is a diagram showing electronic files stored or held in the auxiliary information storage unit 8, the auxiliary information holding unit 11, and the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 when the processing of the third image output 27 is completed. is there. At this time, the auxiliary information deletion unit 10 that has received the notification that the image formation has ended is the smallest “4” among the identification information of the image formation instruction information held in the image formation instruction information holding unit 6. To get. Therefore, among the auxiliary information stored in the auxiliary information storage unit 8, information having identification information less than “4” is the target of the operation by the auxiliary information deletion unit 10. At this time, the identification information holding unit 14 holds “1” that is the identification information of the image formation instruction information that has been processed immediately before. As a result, firstly, the auxiliary information removal section 10, arrows Shimesuru so on, identification information is smaller than "1" greater than "4", "suzuki.jpg (1)", the "yamada.jpg (2)" Both electronic files are copied to the auxiliary information holding unit 11. At this time, the duplicate electronic file previously held is overwritten. Subsequently, the auxiliary information deletion unit 10 deletes the electronic file whose identification information is less than “4” from the auxiliary information storage unit 8 as indicated by a double strikethrough in the figure.

  FIG. 8 is a diagram illustrating electronic files stored or held in the auxiliary information storage unit 8, the auxiliary information holding unit 11, and the image formation instruction information holding unit 6 when the fourth image output 28 is processed. . At this time, since the identification information of an image formation instruction information processed "job4.job" is "4", as indicated by the arrow "suzuki.jpg (3)" is copied in the auxiliary information holding unit 11 Overwritten. Since the image forming unit 12 processes “job4.job” in this state, “teikei.frm”, “yamada.jpg (2)”, and “suzuki.jpg (3)” are used as auxiliary information. . That is, “yamada.jpg (1)” used when processing the third image output 27 is overwritten and used by “yamada.jpg (2)” which is the auxiliary information received thereafter. The

  When the above processing is completed, the image forming apparatus 1 continues to wait to receive auxiliary information or image formation instruction information.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Image forming apparatus, 2 Image formation instruction information receiving part, 3 Auxiliary information receiving part, 4 Image formation instruction information management part, 5 Identification information issuing part, 6 Image formation instruction information holding part, 7 Auxiliary information management part, 8 Auxiliary information Storage unit, 9 Auxiliary information copying unit, 10 Auxiliary information deleting unit, 11 Auxiliary information holding unit, 12 Image forming unit, 13 Image output unit, 14 Identification information holding unit, 15 Time axis, 16, 18, 20, 22, 23 Auxiliary information 17, 19, 21, 24 Image formation instruction information, 25, 26, 27, 28 Image output.

Claims (5)

An image formation instruction information holding unit for holding image formation instruction information including an image formation instruction for instructing image formation;
An auxiliary information storage unit that stores auxiliary information used together with the image formation instruction information when forming an image in association with the image formation instruction information;
An auxiliary information holding unit for holding the auxiliary information used when forming an image;
An image forming unit that forms an image based on the image formation instruction information held in the image formation instruction information holding unit and the auxiliary information held in the auxiliary information holding unit;
An auxiliary information copying unit that copies the auxiliary information associated with the image forming instruction information before the image forming instruction information to be processed by the image forming unit from the auxiliary information storage unit to the auxiliary information holding unit;
An image forming apparatus.   After the image formation by the image forming unit, the image formation received before the image formation instruction information received first among the image formation instruction information held in the image formation instruction information holding unit The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: an auxiliary information deleting unit that copies the auxiliary information associated with the instruction information from the auxiliary information storage unit to the auxiliary information holding unit and deletes the auxiliary information from the auxiliary information storage unit.   The auxiliary information copying unit, the image formation instruction information to be processed is, if one received later than the image formation instruction information processed immediately before by the image forming unit, the image forming unit to claim 1 or 2, copying the supplementary information associated with the image forming instruction information received later than the image formation instruction information processed immediately before from the auxiliary information storing unit to the auxiliary information holding unit by The image forming apparatus described.   Auxiliary information storage management for overwriting the previous auxiliary information stored in the auxiliary information storage unit with the subsequent auxiliary information when a plurality of the auxiliary information associated with the same image formation instruction information is received The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising a portion. Computer
An image formation instruction information holding unit for holding image formation instruction information including an image formation instruction for instructing image formation;
An auxiliary information storage unit that stores auxiliary information used together with the image formation instruction information when forming an image in association with the image formation instruction information;
An auxiliary information holding unit for holding the auxiliary information used when forming an image;
An image forming unit that forms an image based on the image formation instruction information held in the image formation instruction information holding unit and the auxiliary information held in the auxiliary information holding unit;
An auxiliary information copying unit that copies the auxiliary information associated with the image forming instruction information before the image forming instruction information to be processed by the image forming unit from the auxiliary information storage unit to the auxiliary information holding unit;
A computer program for causing an image forming apparatus to function.

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