JP2012221194A - Image output device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve the problem in which a production status cannot be correctly controlled because of a possible selection of, for example, a sheet having the same quality at a different price or a sheet unsuitable for the device (due to a high jamming frequency or the like) when selecting a sheet from multiple alternative sheets.SOLUTION: Control information such as prices and inventory information is acquired from a management system so that a sheet appropriate for production status control is selected by using economic attributes of each sheet.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image output apparatus that selects a sheet based on a print job.

  In the POD workflow, when printing is performed, there is a case where a paper tray that accommodates regular paper that matches the print data is not mounted.

  Conventionally, as a technology related to paper feed control, there is a technology (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-242146) for selecting and printing a paper feed tray that matches a specified paper size, and most of the printing apparatuses currently used are Such an automatic paper feeding function is provided. There is also a technique for selecting and printing a paper feed tray that matches print attributes (size information, color / monochrome, etc.) from data relating to a print request (Patent Document 1).

  In such an image output device having an automatic paper feed function, there is a problem in handling when a paper tray containing regular paper that matches print data is not installed. In such a case, for example, a message is displayed. Possible countermeasures include displaying and canceling printing, or forcibly printing on another sheet.

JP-A-5-27259

  In the POD workflow, a management system is introduced in order to achieve objectives such as smooth promotion of work, labor saving, creation of management judgment materials, and cost reduction. Therefore, when selecting one of a plurality of substitutable papers, it is possible to select papers having the same quality but different in price, for example, or not suitable for the device (such as frequent jams). Therefore, there was a concern that the production status could not be managed accurately.

  An object of the present invention is to improve the accuracy of production status management in the automatic sheet feeding.

  In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is characterized in that the following measures are taken.

  In an image output apparatus that selects a type of paper corresponding to printing paper information from a plurality of types of paper stored in advance, when there are a plurality of substitutable papers, the economic attributes of the substitutable papers (price and usage error are small) And a means for selecting a replaceable sheet that matches the economic attribute of the sheet, and the replaceable sheet selecting means has a plurality of replaceable sheet candidates as a result of the processing. If there is, it is judged by comparing with a preset threshold value.

  In the POD industry where the number of paper types is very large (400 or more), if an alternative paper suitable for a device can be produced, the risk of errors such as jams can be reduced, so that the production status can be accurately managed.

Diagram showing conventional correspondence in paper selection Diagram showing issues in paper selection Diagram showing the overall configuration of the POD workflow Diagram showing the configuration of the paper selection device The figure which shows the flowchart of the paper selection process for a problem solution The figure which shows the flowchart which selects the substitutable paper which matches economic attribute The figure which shows the flowchart which selects the substitutable paper close | similar to a threshold value The figure which shows the threshold value which is written in JDF Diagram showing economic attributes Figure showing an error message when replaceable paper is not found The figure which shows the flowchart which print server analyzes JDF and passes to device The figure which shows the process which selects the substitutable paper which suits the printing characteristic The figure which shows the hardware constitutions of management PC The figure which shows the hardware constitutions of client PC Diagram showing hardware configuration of server PC

  The best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a print workflow to which the image output apparatus according to the first embodiment of the present invention can be applied. The print workflow shown in FIG. 3 includes a management PC 100, a client PC 200, a server PC 300, and a print device 400. The management PC 100, client PC 200, server PC 300, and printing device 400 are connected to a communication medium and can communicate with each other.

  The management PC 100 is configured by hardware shown in FIG. 13 described later, and includes a management system 101. The management system 101 is installed in an external storage device such as a hard disk of a management PC, and manages the entire printing process and management information.

  The client PC 200 is configured by hardware shown in FIG. 14 described later, and includes a workflow application 201. The workflow application 201 is installed in an external storage device such as a hard disk of the client PC 200. In response to an instruction from the user, the workflow application 201 generates a JDF that can be interpreted by the server PC connected to the network, and transmits it to the server PC 300. As shown in FIG. 8, the JDF describes printing characteristics and threshold values required when selecting a substitutable sheet.

  The server PC 300 is configured by hardware shown in FIG. 15 described later, and includes a print server 301. The print server 301 is installed in an external storage device such as a hard disk of the server PC and executes print processing. The print server 301 receives the JDF from the workflow application 201 and generates a print request that can be interpreted by the device 400 connected to the network. It also performs management such as holding and canceling print jobs.

  The device 400 includes a control unit 411, a display unit 412, an economic attribute acquisition unit 413, a substitutable paper selection unit 414, and a substitutable paper list 420 as shown in FIG. The control unit 411 controls the entire processing of the image output apparatus. First, data relating to a print request output from the print server 301 is processed via the control unit 411. At this time, information such as the paper size and paper type attached to the data relating to the print request is also processed together. The replaceable sheet list 420 stores the replaceable sheet list handled by the device 400 and information such as “A4 landscape”, “A4 portrait”, or “B4 portrait” for each sheet. The economic attribute acquisition unit 413 receives an instruction from the control unit 411 and acquires the economic attribute of the paper, that is, compatibility with the device 400, price, and other information from the management system 101. In response to an instruction from the control unit 411, the replaceable sheet selection unit 414 scans the replaceable sheet list 420 of the device 400, and determines a sheet that matches the economic attribute as a sheet of the print job. When a substitutable sheet is not found, the control unit 411 displays an error message as shown in FIG.

<Description of overall processing flow>
The operation of this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 5, 6, 7, 11, and 12.

  The print server 301 interprets the JDF output from the workflow application 201. At the time of JDF interpretation, the print server 301 extracts printing characteristics such as paper size information and color information attached to the JDF (S1 in FIG. 11). After analyzing the JDF, the print server 301 passes the print request, print characteristics, and threshold value to the control unit 411 of the device 400 (S2 in FIG. 11).

  In response to a command from the control unit 411, the replaceable sheet selecting unit 414 selects a replaceable sheet using the printing characteristics (S3 in FIG. 5). For example, as shown in FIG. 12, when the printing characteristics are “color” and “A4”, the substitutable paper selection unit 414 selects the paper 421 and the paper 422. According to the conventional technique, when there are a plurality of alternative candidates such as the paper 421 and the paper 422, the first paper 421 found is used as a printing paper.

  The subsequent processing is divided into three types according to the determination result of S4 in FIG.

  (1) When the substitutable paper suitable for the printing characteristics does not exist in the substitutable paper list 420 (S4 “No” in FIG. 5), the control unit 411 displays an error message as shown in FIG. The processing is temporarily stopped (S5 in FIG. 5).

  (2) When there is only one replaceable sheet (S6 “No” in FIG. 5), the replaceable sheet selecting unit 414 selects the sheet as a sheet to be used for printing. Using the selected sheet, the control unit 411 executes printing (S12 in FIG. 5).

  (3) When there are two or more substitutable papers (S6 “Yes” in FIG. 5), the economic attribute acquisition unit 413 receives a record of the price and device from the management system 101 for each of the substitutable papers (there are many jams) (E.g., less) is acquired (S7 in FIG. 5). After the acquisition of the economic attribute for the substitutable paper is completed, as shown in FIG. 6, the substitutable paper selection unit 414 selects a paper that matches the economic attribute from the substitutable paper list 420 (S8 in FIG. 5, FIG. 6). S13 to S15). As a result of the completion of the process of S8 in FIG. 5 for all replaceable sheets (S9 in FIG. 5), when there is one replaceable sheet (S10 “No” in FIG. 5), the replaceable sheet is printed. And execute printing (S12 in FIG. 5). When there are two or more substitutable sheets (S10 “Yes” in FIG. 5), the substitutable sheet selection unit 414 compares the threshold value described in the JDF (S11 in FIG. 5 and S16 to S20 in FIG. 7). As a result of this comparison, the substitutable paper selection unit 414 selects a substitutable paper having an economic attribute closest to the threshold as a paper to be used for printing. Using the selected alternative paper, the control unit 411 executes printing (S12 in FIG. 5).

  As a specific example, a case will be described where there is A4 plain paper 1, A4 plain paper 2, and B4 color print dedicated paper in the replaceable paper list 420 of the device 400. The economic attributes of each sheet are stored in the management system 101. FIG. 9 shows examples of economic attributes. If the requested paper size is “A4” and the print attribute information “color”, the print server 301 displays an error message and pauses printing as described in (1) above. When the requested paper size is “B4” and the print attribute information is “color”, the color print of B4 is selected and printing is executed as described in (2) above. When the required paper size is “A4”, the printing attribute information is “plain paper”, the price range is 5 to 10, and the jam frequency is 0 to 5, the replaceable paper selection process is performed as in (3) above. (S6 to S12 in FIG. 5).

  For A4 plain paper 1 and A4 plain paper 2, the economic attribute acquisition unit acquires economic information (price and jam frequency of Device A) of FIG. 9 from the management system. According to the price acquired from the management system, the price of A4 plain paper 1 is 10, and the price of A4 plain paper 2 is also 10. The frequency of jams is 1 for A4 plain paper 1 and 4 for A4 plain paper 2. Since both the A4 plain paper 1 and the A4 plain paper 2 fall within the price range and jam frequency in the print request, the replaceable paper selection unit 414 next compares the threshold value with the economic information. Since the prices of the A4 plain paper 1 and the A4 plain paper 2 are the same, the replaceable paper selection unit 414 selects the A4 plain paper 1 having the lowest jam frequency and executes printing.

100 Management PC
200 client PC
300 server PC
400 devices
410 Paper selection device
411 control unit
412 display unit
413 Economic Attribute Acquisition Department
414 Substitutable paper selection section
420 Substitutable paper

Claims (2)

In an image output apparatus that selects a type of paper corresponding to printing paper information from a plurality of types of paper stored in advance,
Means for acquiring economic attributes (price, low usage error, inventory information) of replaceable paper when there are a plurality of replaceable papers, and means for selecting substitutable paper that matches the economic attributes of the paper The image output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the replaceable sheet selecting unit determines, by processing, a plurality of replaceable sheet candidates by comparing with a preset threshold value. The image output apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the preset threshold value is described in JDF.