JP2012236328A - Printer, control method for printer, and program - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that when a sheet storage part is selected in consideration of both of the size and kind of a sheet, a user has only a way to continue printing by replenishing deficient sheets, when the sheets run short.SOLUTION: When a print job is executed to feed the sheet for a sheet storage part storing the sheet corresponding to the size and kind of the sheet required for executing the print job and an image is printed on the fed sheet, it is determined whether or not another sheet storage part storing the sheet having the same size and kind as the sheet stored in the sheet storage part selected by the print job is present, when it is detected that the sheet is depleted in the selected sheet storage part. When it is determined that another sheet storage part is present, the sheet is fed from the another sheet storage part, to continue the print job, and when it is determined that another sheet storage part is not present, a screen for asking a user whether or not to execute the print job by using the sheet having the same size but different kind is displayed.

Description

  The present invention relates to an error display control that is displayed when a printing apparatus runs out of paper during printing.

  A conventional printing apparatus manages information indicating the size of paper such as A4, A5, and B5 and information indicating the type of paper (paper type) such as plain paper, cardboard, recycled paper, and OHP sheet for each paper feed cassette. doing. Then, printing is executed by selecting a paper feed cassette in which paper suitable for the paper size and paper type designated by the user is set.

  In addition, there is a type that can set whether or not to consider the type of paper. If the paper type is set not to be taken into account, as long as the paper size matches, even if the paper cassette contains different types of paper, paper is fed from that paper cassette. You can print on the paper. By performing such a setting, the possibility of stopping printing due to the absence of paper is reduced, but there is a possibility that a printing result unintended by the user, such as a mixture of plain paper and an OHP sheet, may be obtained. . (See Patent Document 1)

JP 2004-314386 A

  On the other hand, if both the paper size and paper type are set to be considered, only the paper cassette that matches the paper size and paper type is selected. Can be obtained. However, in this case, for example, when there is no plain paper, an error will occur even if there is a paper type paper (such as thick paper) of the same size and relatively close to plain paper in another cassette. There was no way to continue printing other than replenishing.

  The object of the present invention is to solve the above-mentioned problems of the prior art.

  A feature of the present invention is to provide a mechanism that is set so as to take into account the type of paper and that allows the user to easily continue printing when no paper occurs on a certain type of paper.

In order to achieve the above object, a printing apparatus according to an aspect of the present invention has the following configuration. That is,
A printing apparatus that prints an image on a sheet fed from one of a plurality of sheet storage units,
Printing by executing a print job, feeding a sheet from a sheet storage unit that stores a sheet corresponding to the size and type of the sheet required for executing the print job, and printing an image on the supplied sheet Control means;
When the print control unit executes the print job and detects that a sheet is insufficient in the sheet storage unit selected in the print job, the size of the sheet stored in the selected sheet storage unit Determining means for determining whether or not there is another sheet storage unit storing the same type of sheets of the same size;
When the determination unit determines that the other sheet storage unit is present, a sheet is fed from the other sheet storage unit to execute the print job, and the determination unit does not have the other sheet storage unit. If determined, a screen for inquiring the user whether or not to execute the print job using a sheet of the same size as the size of the sheet stored in the selected sheet storage unit is displayed. Display control means.

  According to the present invention, it is set so that the type of paper is taken into account, and when there is no paper on a certain type of paper, the user can easily continue printing.

1 is a block diagram illustrating an example of a configuration of an image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention. The figure which shows an example of the error screen displayed on the touch panel of an operation part. 6 is a flowchart for explaining processing when a paper-out error occurs in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. The figure which shows the example of a screen displayed when A4 paper of the designated plain paper type runs out. The figure which shows the example of a screen displayed when a detailed setting button is pressed.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments do not limit the present invention according to the claims, and all combinations of features described in the embodiments are not necessarily essential to the solution means of the present invention. .

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an example of the configuration of an image forming apparatus (printing apparatus) 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

  The image forming apparatus 1000 includes a controller unit 100 that controls each unit of the image forming apparatus 1000, an operation unit 112, a scanner unit 123, and a printer unit 125 as a basic configuration. The operation unit 112 includes, for example, hard keys such as a numeric keypad for inputting numbers and a start key for instructing execution of processing, and a touch panel, and provides a user interface for the user to operate the image forming apparatus 1000. To do. That is, the user touches (presses) an icon or button (or hard key) representing each setting item displayed on the touch panel of the operation unit 112 to input various settings and information of the image forming apparatus 1000. Can do. The scanner unit 123 reads a document and acquires image data of the document. The printer unit 125 conveys the sheet and prints an image on the conveyed sheet according to the image data.

  The controller unit 100 is connected to the scanner unit 123 via the bus 122 and is connected to the printer unit 125 via the bus 124. The controller unit 100 is connected to other devices via a LAN 113, a public line (WAN) 114, a wireless 115, or the like, and performs input / output control of image information and device information.

  The CPU 101 controls the image forming apparatus 1000. The RAM 102 is a system work memory for the operation of the CPU 101, and is also used as an image memory for temporarily storing image data. The ROM 103 is a boot ROM. The ROM 103 stores a system boot program. An HDD 104 is a hard disk drive, and stores software and image data executed by the CPU 101, information on all wireless communication (specifications of wireless communication) included in the communication unit 111 described later, and the like. In this image forming apparatus 1000, the functions can be increased by installing an application (hereinafter referred to as an application) that implements a function to be used. By installing such an application, an application program for operating various functions in the image forming apparatus 1000 is stored in the RAM 102 or the HDD 104.

  The operation unit I / F 106 is an interface unit with the operation unit 112 that is a user interface (UI), and outputs data to be displayed on the operation unit 112 to the operation unit 112. Further, the operation unit I / F 106 notifies the CPU 101 of information input by the user using the operation unit 112. A network I / F unit 109 is connected to the LAN 113 and inputs / outputs information. A modem 110 is connected to a public line 114 and inputs / outputs information. The communication unit 111 is connected to the radio 115 via an antenna (not shown) and inputs and outputs information. The communication unit 111 can perform a plurality of types of wireless communication. Each of the above devices is arranged on the system bus 107.

  The image bus I / F 105 is a bus bridge that connects the system bus 107 and an image bus 108 that transfers image data at high speed and converts the data structure. The image bus 108 is a bus defined by a PCI bus or IEEE1394. In each device placed on the image bus 108, a raster image processor (RIP) 116 expands the PDL code into a bitmap image. The device I / F unit 117 connects the scanner unit 123 and the printer unit 125 to the controller unit 100, and performs synchronous / asynchronous conversion of image data. The scanner image processing unit 118 corrects, processes, or edits the image data input from the scanner unit 123. The printer image processing unit 119 performs correction, resolution conversion, and the like suitable for the printer unit 125 on the image data output to the printer unit 125. The image rotation unit 120 rotates image data. The image processing unit 121 performs compression / decompression processing such as JPEG, JBIG, MMR, and MH, and format conversion processing such as PDF, TIFF, OCR, and encryption on the image data.

  FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of an error screen displayed on the touch panel of the operation unit 112 according to the embodiment.

  This error screen mainly includes an image 201 indicating the appearance of the image forming apparatus that is an error target, the location of a paper feed cassette (also referred to as a sheet storage unit or a paper feed unit) that is short of paper, and paper feed. Displays 202, 203, and 204 representing the cassette status are displayed. In FIG. 2, reference numeral 202 denotes a paper feed cassette in which a sheet of size A3 is stored. Reference numeral 203 denotes a paper feed cassette that accommodates paper of size A4 and paper type “thick paper”. Reference numeral 204 denotes a paper feed cassette in which no plain paper of size A4 is left. Note that the sizes and types of sheets stored in the plurality of sheet feeding units are stored in the HDD 104 or the RAM 102, for example.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart for explaining print control when an error out of paper occurs in the image forming apparatus according to the present embodiment. A program for executing this processing is installed in the HDD 104, expanded in the runtime RAM 102, and executed under the control of the CPU 101.

  After printing is started, in step S <b> 301, the CPU 101 determines whether there is no paper in the paper feed cassette that is feeding paper in the print job being executed. This is detected by a paper sensor provided in the paper feed cassette. When no paper is generated, the printing process is continued. If no paper is detected in step S301, the process advances to step S302, and the CPU 101 has the same size as the paper size specified in the print job being executed and the same type as the paper type specified in the print job being executed. It is determined whether the paper is in another paper cassette. The paper size and paper type may be specified by the user, or may be specified by an external PC or image forming apparatus when not specified by the user. If there are sheets of the same size and type, the process advances to step S303, and the CPU 101 changes the sheet cassette for feeding sheets used in the print job being executed to the sheet cassette found in step S302. Then, the CPU 101 continues the print job using the paper fed from the paper feed cassette.

  On the other hand, if it is determined in S302 that there is no paper of the same size and the same type, the process advances to S304, and the CPU 101 stores the same paper size as that specified in the print job being executed in another paper cassette. Determine if there are different types of paper. If it is determined that different types of paper of the same size exist, the process advances to step S305 to display an error screen for selecting another type of paper, and the process ends.

  If it is determined in S304 that there are no different types of paper of the same size, the process proceeds to S306, and an error screen indicating that no other paper cassette can be selected is displayed, and the process ends.

  For example, when A4 size plain paper runs out during execution of a print job using A4 size plain paper, for example, in the case of FIG. 2, there are different types of A4 size paper (thick paper) (203). . Therefore, in such a case, an error screen is displayed in a state in which the paper feed cassette indicated by 203 can be selected.

  FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating an example of a screen displayed when there is no A4 paper of the designated plain paper type. This display control is executed under the control of the CPU 101.

  The message 402 is a message for confirming a change to a paper feed cassette of a different paper type because there is no A4 paper of the plain paper type. If the process is to be ended without changing the paper, the user presses a cancel button 404, and the printing process ends. On the other hand, when changing the paper type and continuing printing, the user presses an OK button 403.

  In addition, when performing print settings in more detail, the user presses a detail setting button 405. The screen for performing the detailed setting will be described with reference to FIG.

  FIG. 5 is a diagram showing an example of a screen displayed when the detailed setting button 405 in FIG. 4 is pressed. This screen is displayed during printing standby.

  In FIG. 4, the user changes the paper type from “plain paper” to “thick paper” by pressing a detail setting button 405, and then uses the screen of FIG. ) Can be changed. In this screen example, a change button 502 for reducing layout (reducing a plurality of pages and printing on one sheet), a change button 503 for double-sided printing, and a button 504 for re-executing printing from the top are displayed. Yes. In this way, when the paper type is changed, the user can instruct the user to change the print settings so that a print result suitable for the changed paper can be obtained.

  As described above, even when there is no sheet of a size or type corresponding to the paper size or paper type specified by the print job, the user can select another type of paper. Convenience is improved.

(Other examples)
The present invention can also be realized by executing the following processing. That is, software (program) that realizes the functions of the above-described embodiments is supplied to a system or apparatus via a network or various storage media, and a computer (or CPU, MPU, etc.) of the system or apparatus reads the program. It is a process to be executed.

Claims (6)

A printing apparatus that prints an image on a sheet fed from one of a plurality of sheet storage units,
Printing by executing a print job, feeding a sheet from a sheet storage unit that stores a sheet corresponding to the size and type of the sheet required for executing the print job, and printing an image on the supplied sheet Control means;
When the print control unit executes the print job and detects that a sheet is insufficient in the sheet storage unit selected in the print job, the size of the sheet stored in the selected sheet storage unit Determining means for determining whether or not there is another sheet storage unit storing the same type of sheets of the same size;
When the determination unit determines that the other sheet storage unit is present, a sheet is fed from the other sheet storage unit to execute the print job, and the determination unit does not have the other sheet storage unit. If determined, a screen for inquiring the user whether or not to execute the print job using a sheet of the same size as the size of the sheet stored in the selected sheet storage unit is displayed. Display control means;
A printing apparatus comprising:   The display control means displays the screen when any of the plurality of sheet storage units stores different types of sheets having the same size as the sheet stored in the selected sheet storage unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein:   When the user uses the screen to instruct to execute the print job using different types of sheets having the same size as the sheets stored in the selected sheet storage unit, the print control is performed. And a means for controlling to continuously execute the print job by feeding a sheet from a sheet storage unit storing different types of sheets having the same size as the size of the sheet stored in the selected sheet storage unit. The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the printing apparatus is a printing apparatus.   The printing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the screen further includes an item for designating print settings for printing on the different types of sheets in the print job. A control method for controlling a printing apparatus that prints an image on a sheet fed from one of a plurality of sheet storage units,
By executing a print job, a sheet storage unit that stores a sheet corresponding to the sheet size and the sheet type required for execution of the print job is selected, and a sheet is fed from the selected sheet storage unit and fed. A print control process for printing an image on a paper sheet;
When executing the print job in the print control step and detecting that a sheet is insufficient in the sheet storage unit selected in the print job, the size of the sheet stored in the selected sheet storage unit A determination step of determining whether there is another sheet storage unit in which the same type of sheet is stored in the same size,
When it is determined in the determination step that the other sheet storage unit is present, a sheet is fed from the other sheet storage unit and the print job is continued. In the determination step, there is no other sheet storage unit. If determined, a screen for inquiring the user whether or not to execute the print job using a sheet of the same size as the size of the sheet stored in the selected sheet storage unit is displayed. A display control process;
A control method for a printing apparatus, comprising:   A program for causing a computer to execute the method for controlling a printing apparatus according to claim 5.

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