JP2013144417A - Apparatus and method for forming image - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus that can insert a zonal surplus part between arbitrary pages of a plurality of pages to form images and the image forming method.SOLUTION: The image forming apparatus temporarily memorizes, until receiving the page of the zonal surplus part insertion position (m-th page) specified beforehand, the print data in the received print job in the order of the pages that receives (first page and second page), preferentially rasterises and prints the pages from the page of the zonal surplus part insertion position (m-th page) to the last page (n-th page), when received the zonal surplus part insertion position (m-th page), and prints the page of unprinting that is temporarily memorized (from the first page to the (m-1)-th page) after last page printing.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an image forming method.

  2. Description of the Related Art A bookbinding apparatus that binds a plurality of sheets on which images are formed by a copier, a printer, or the like and performs bookbinding processing on the bundle, and an image forming system including the bookbinding apparatus are known.

  As one of the bookbinding processes, there is a ring binding in which bookbinding is performed through a ring-shaped binding tool in the holes of the aligned sheet bundle. Further, a system has been developed in which a post-processing apparatus that performs such bookbinding processing is connected to an image forming apparatus so that ring binding can be performed (automatically) after image formation (Patent Document 1). And 2).

  By the way, a binding tool used for such a ring binding uses a member in which a plurality of ring portions that are passed through a hole in a sheet are held by a belt-like margin (also referred to as a belt-like surplus portion) (Patent Documents 2 and 3).

JP 2009-256070 A JP 2009-119668 A JP 2009-119712 A

  In a conventional image forming system connected to a ring binding post-processing apparatus, ring binding is performed by passing a ring member through a hole after completion of image formation (printing) on a sheet to be ring-bound. .

  For this reason, a belt-like blank portion appears (becomes visible) behind the final page of the completed ring-bound booklet, and the overall appearance of the booklet is not good.

  Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus capable of inserting a band-like surplus portion between arbitrary pages of a plurality of pages for image formation in order to hide the band-like margin portion in a completed state as a ring-bound booklet, and An image forming method is provided.

  The above object of the present invention is achieved by the following means.

  (1) A receiving means for receiving a print job in which setting for designating a band surplus portion insertion position used for ring binding is written together with print data which is data to be printed, and the print data in the print job is bit Rasterizing means for converting to map data, storage means for temporarily storing bitmap data obtained by rasterization by the rasterizing means, printing means for printing the bitmap data, and the received print job The print data in the print job received by the receiving means is rasterized by the rasterizing means in the order of the received pages until the belt redundant part insertion position is detected and the page of the detected belt redundant part insertion position is received. The obtained bitmap data is temporarily stored in the storage means, and the detected belt-like surplus portion When the page at the input position is received, the page from the band surplus portion insertion position to the last page is preferentially rasterized by the rasterizing means, and the page of the obtained bitmap data is printed by the printing means, and the final page An image forming apparatus comprising: a control unit that causes the printing unit to print an unprinted page stored in the storage unit after printing.

  (2) The image according to (1), wherein the setting for designating the band surplus portion insertion position is written in a print job by a print job creation apparatus when the print job is created in advance. Forming equipment.

  (3) a step of receiving a print job in which a setting for designating a band surplus portion insertion position used for ring binding is printed together with print data which is data to be printed; and the band surplus portion from the received print job The detected bitmap position is rasterized in the order of the received page until the insertion position is detected and the page of the detected band-like surplus portion insertion position is received. Temporarily storing in the storage means, and when the detected page of the band surplus part insertion position is received, the page from the band surplus part insertion position to the last page is preferentially rasterized, and the page of the obtained bitmap data is displayed. An image forming method comprising: a step of printing; and a step of printing an unprinted page stored in the storage unit after the final page is printed.

  (4) The image according to (3), wherein the setting for designating the band surplus portion insertion position is written in a print job by a print job creation apparatus when the print job is created in advance. Forming method.

  According to the present invention, from each page of the received print job, until the page designated as the band surplus portion insertion position is received, it is rasterized in the order received and temporarily stored, and the page at the band surplus portion insertion position is stored. After receiving, the subsequent pages are preferentially rasterized and printed in order from that page, and after the final page is printed, an unprinted page is printed. As a result, a sheet bundle is created in which the page designated as the band surplus portion insertion position is the first page in the printing order. By ring-binding this sheet bundle, it is possible to obtain a ring-bound booklet in which the belt-like surplus portion enters a position (page) arbitrarily designated.

1 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of a printer system which is an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention. FIG. It is explanatory drawing for demonstrating the ring binding booklet at the time of printing and binding in order of a page. FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a ring-bound booklet when printing is performed by changing the page order of paper bundles. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a processing procedure of a printer driver for designating an insertion page of a belt-like surplus part. It is a figure for demonstrating the example of a screen for setting post-processing (various settings which bind a sheet bundle) including ring binding. It is a flowchart for demonstrating a reception process procedure. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of RIP processing. It is a flowchart which shows the procedure of the RIP process following FIG. It is explanatory drawing explaining how a page order is replaced when the insertion position of a strip | belt-shaped surplus part is made into the m-th page. It is explanatory drawing explaining the time concerning a printing process when the insertion position of a strip | belt-shaped surplus part is made into the m-th page. It is explanatory drawing explaining the time concerning a printing process in the case of printing the page (mth page) of the insertion position of a strip | belt-shaped surplus part after receiving all the pages sequentially from the 1st page.

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram for explaining a configuration of an image forming system which is an embodiment of an image forming apparatus of the present invention.

  The image forming system 1 is roughly composed of a control unit 2, a printing unit 3, and a post-processing device 4. The image forming system 1 is connected to a computer 51 (PC) that creates print data for image formation (printing) via a network 50.

  The control unit 2 includes a CPU 21, a RIP unit 22 (Raster Image Processor), a memory 23, a hard disk 25 (HDD), a communication interface 26 (NIC: Network Interface Card), and an operation unit 27.

  The CPU 21 (control means) controls the entire image forming system 1 and executes a program created based on a procedure for a ring binding operation to be described later, thereby controlling the ring binding operation and an image for that purpose. Execute the forming process. Further, the CPU 21 analyzes a page description language (PDL: Page Description Language) in the print job and performs print control corresponding to the command (print setting) in the page description language (PDL: Page Description Language). Therefore, the control unit 2 including such a CPU 21 is a computer that executes a program.

  The RIP unit 22 (rasterizing means) rasterizes data such as characters and images included in the PDL sent from the computer 51 as a print job, and creates bitmap data. Bitmap data obtained after rasterization is temporarily stored in the hard disk 25 or directly output to the printing unit 3.

  The memory 23 is used as a temporary storage of received print job data, a temporary storage of bitmap data after rasterization by the RIP unit 22, and a work area used by the CPU 21 for various processes. Note that the print job data and bitmap data are temporarily stored in the hard disk 25 when, for example, the number of pages is large and cannot be stored by the memory 23 alone, or when there is a print job already received and processed. You may make it do. If there is a print job that is currently being processed and image formation processing of the received print job is not possible, the received print job data is stored in the hard disk 25 regardless of the print job data capacity. Also good. In this case, the print job stored in the hard disk 25 is read out from the hard disk 25 in the order of pages, and image forming processing is performed in the same way as when the print job is received.

  The hard disk 25 (storage means) stores a program for performing a ring binding processing procedure to be described later. It is also used for temporary storage of print jobs (before rasterization) sent from the computer 51 and the like, and temporary storage of bitmap data after rasterization. The program for the ring binding processing procedure is not limited to the hard disk 25 but may be provided together with the firmware of the image forming system 1 and stored in a firmware storage unit (not shown) such as an EPROM.

  The communication interface 26 connects the image forming system 1 to the network 50. For this purpose, the communication interface 26 transmits and receives data according to the standard of the connected network 50. Here, the network 50 is, for example, a LAN (Local Area Network) in which the computer 51 and network devices are connected according to standards such as Ethernet (registered trademark), token ring, and FDDI (Fiber Distributed Data Interface), or dedicated LANs. Various networks 50 such as a WAN (Wide Area Network) connected by a line. In FIG. 1, one computer 51 and one image forming system 1 are connected to the network 50, but a plurality of them may be connected.

  The operation unit 27 serves as a display unit and includes an operation panel for a user to input various operations to the image forming system 1 and a display screen for displaying the state of the image forming system 1. . These include, for example, a liquid crystal screen and a touch panel. The operation of the image forming system 1 can also be performed from the computer 51 via the network 50.

  The printing unit 3 (printing unit) includes a paper feeding unit 31, a print engine 32, and a buffer memory 33.

  The paper feed unit 31 supplies a print recording medium such as paper to the print engine 32.

  The print engine 32 prints the bitmap data sent from the control unit 2 on a print recording medium fed from the paper feed unit 31 in accordance with a command from the control unit 2. Here, the print engine 32 is based on, for example, an inkjet method or an electrophotographic method, and is not particularly limited.

  The buffer memory 32 temporarily stores the bitmap data received from the control unit 2 when printing of the bitmap data previously received by the print engine 32 is not completed and is in a busy state. The print engine 32 executes image formation in the order received from the control unit 2 including the data temporarily stored in the buffer memory 32.

  The post-processing device 4 performs ring binding of the sheet bundle after printing. For this purpose, a punch mechanism for making a hole at a predetermined position (ring insertion position) of the sheet for inserting the ring of the ring binding tool into the sheet bundle, a ring binding tool supply mechanism for holding and supplying the ring binding tool, It has a binding mechanism that binds through a ring to a hole opened at a predetermined position. Since the post-processing device for performing such ring binding may be the same device as Patent Literatures 1 and 2 cited as the prior art documents, detailed description thereof is omitted here.

  Before describing the operation of the image forming system 1, the ring-bound booklet will be described.

  FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a ring-bound booklet when printed and bound in page order.

  As shown in FIG. 2 (a), the ring-bound booklet 100 usually has the first page as the head and the last page n as the last page as shown in FIG. 2 (b). It is bound. The bound sheet bundle 150 is from page 1 to page n, and can be obtained by printing and binding the print jobs received from the computer 51 from the first page to the nth page in order. .

  The ring binding tool 110 for binding the ring-bound booklet 100 includes a plurality of rings 111 that pass through the binding holes 151 of the sheet bundle 150 and a belt-like surplus portion 112 for holding the plurality of rings 111.

  When the pages are simply printed and bound in the page order, as shown in FIG. 2B, when the booklet is viewed from the back side, the band-like surplus portion 112 is seen and the appearance is not good. This is because, in the case of ring binding, the ring 111 is passed through the binding hole 151 of the paper bundle 150 after all the printing that forms the paper bundle 150 to be bound is finished.

  Therefore, in the present embodiment, the printing order is changed so that the band-like surplus portion 112 is not visible when it is completed as a ring-bound booklet.

  FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram for explaining a ring-bound booklet in a case where printing is performed by changing the page order of the sheet bundle.

  For example, the order of pages when printing is changed, printing is started from an arbitrary m-th page, and printing is terminated at the (m−1) -th page to form a sheet bundle. That is, when the page to be printed is composed of the first page to the nth page, and an arbitrary page in the middle is the mth page, the mth page, the m + 1th page, the m + 2 page,... The n−1th page, the nth page The pages are printed in the order of page 1, page 1, page 2 to page m-1.

  FIG. 3A shows a state in which the ring-bound booklet 200 obtained by ring-binding the sheet bundle 250 printed in this printing order is viewed from the back side immediately after binding. As shown in the figure, in the ring-bound booklet 200, when viewed from the back side, the belt-like surplus portion 112 comes on the m-th page printed first. Then, the last printed page m-1 comes first on the front side. In the middle of the sheet bundle 250, the first page overlaps the nth page.

  When the user who has received the ring-bound booklet 200 in this state becomes the last page of the ring-bound booklet 200 from the n-th page, which is the last page, the band-like surplus portion from the (m−1) -th page to the n-th page The page is sent to 112 side. Then, as shown in FIG. 3B, the belt-like surplus portion 112 (indicated by a dotted line in FIG. 3B) is hidden by the (m-1) th page to the nth page. For this reason, the ring-bound booklet 200 that has been completed has a good appearance even when viewed from the back side.

  In the present embodiment, the page order in the print job sent from the computer 51 is changed so that a band-like surplus portion can be inserted between arbitrary pages as shown in FIG. Hereinafter, a description will be given of a ring-binding image forming process procedure for ring-binding by changing the page order using the image forming system of the present embodiment described above.

  In order to perform ring-bound image forming processing using the image forming system of the present embodiment, it is necessary to first specify the band-like surplus portion insertion position in the PDL data of the received print job. The designation of the insertion position of the belt-like surplus portion is performed by a computer that creates a print job. Therefore, the computer is a print job creation device.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart showing the processing procedure of the printer driver for designating the insertion page of the belt-like surplus part.

  First, a printer driver is activated in the computer 51 (S1). The printer driver is installed in the computer 51 in advance, and is called up and activated by various print commands such as document creation software and image creation software.

  Subsequently, in the computer 51, the activated printer driver displays a print setting screen (referred to as “finishing setting”) (S2). FIG. 5 is a diagram for explaining an example of a screen for setting post-processing including ring binding (various settings for binding a bundle of sheets). As shown in the figure, this screen includes a check box 501 for designating ring binding and a ring bind setting item 502 for designating the contents thereof. In the ring bind setting item, there are a first sheet (front cover) printing surface setting, a final sheet (back cover) printing surface setting, a last page number display window, and a band surplus portion insertion position setting window. In this screen, to select other functions, “Binding direction” that specifies the position for binding a bundle of sheets, “Staple” to specify binding by stapling unlike ring binding, punch hole, Setting items such as “Punch” that specify the setting for opening the opening. There are an OK button for confirming the contents set here, a cancel button for canceling the post-processing setting, a help button for requesting an explanation of the function, and the like.

  “Binding direction” is set by selecting a binding position such as right binding, left binding, or saddle stitching. In the figure, “Left binding” is set.

  “Staple” is a setting for enabling or disabling the setting for stapling. Here, since “ring binding” is selected, “off” is selected. “Punch” is a setting for punching a sheet. Here, “OFF” is selected. In this case, since punch punching is not performed, the paper to be printed for ring binding is originally paper having a hole for ring binding. When punching is performed, settings such as 20 holes, 26 holes, and 30 holes are prepared for ring binding, and can be selected from a pull-down menu or the like. Of course, the number of holes prepared is the number of holes that can be executed by the post-processing device 4 of the image forming system 1.

  The ring binding check box 501 is an item for selecting whether or not to perform ring binding, and by checking this, ring binding is performed. In this case, it is checked and ring binding is set.

  Each setting in the ring bind item 501 is as follows.

  The first cover (front cover) print surface setting designates the print surface for the paper used as the front cover (usually the first page). Here, “outside” is designated, so printing outside the front cover is designated in a state where the booklet is completed. In the face-down printing output, when the first page is printed, the sheet is printed on the lower side when the sheet is output facing down.

  The final paper (back cover) print surface setting designates the print surface for the paper used as the back cover (usually the last page). Here, “inside” is designated, so that it is designated to print inside the back cover in a completed state as a booklet. In the face-down printing output, the printing is performed on the lower surface side when the paper is output facing down at the time of printing the last page (the nth page).

  The final page number display window obtains the number of printed pages from the document creation software, image creation software, or the like that activates the printer driver, and displays the number of pages. Here, it is 50 pages.

  A belt-like surplus portion insertion position setting window 505 is a window for inputting a page number into which the belt-like surplus portion is inserted. Here, 50 pages are designated. For this reason, it is specified that a belt-like surplus portion is inserted between the previous 49 pages and the designated 50 pages. Note that the page number (here, page 49) before the designated page number (here, page 50) is displayed as the page number one page before the page number input in the belt-like surplus portion insertion position setting window 505. .

  In this case, the belt-like surplus part comes before the last page, and after ring-binding as shown in FIG. 3A, the last page is turned as shown in FIG. If placed on the top, the completed ring-bound booklet is set so that the band-like surplus portion is hidden behind the last page even when viewed from the back side.

  Of course, such setting contents are only for explaining the setting screen, and can be arbitrarily changed. In particular, the band-like surplus portion insertion position may be any number of pages. A band-like surplus portion is inserted between the page input to the position setting window and the next page.

  Subsequently, when the computer 51 recognizes that the OK button in the print setting screen has been pressed, it reads the setting contents (S3).

  Subsequently, the computer 51 creates print job data in the page description language (PDL) from the print data delivered to the printer driver from the document creation software, the image creation software, etc. and the setting contents read in S3 (S4). .

  In the print job data generated at this time in the page description language, if ring binding is set, a ring binding command and designation of the band-like surplus portion insertion position at that time are written.

  Specific command examples are as follows.

@PJL SET RINGBIND = ON (ring bind setting ON)
@PJL SET RINGBINDFORT = IN (front cover print side: inside)
@PJL SET RINGBINDBACK = OUT (Back cover print side: outside)
@PJL SET RINGBINDINRT = 50 (band-like surplus part insertion position: between page 49 and page 50)
Such a setting command is written at the beginning of the page description language data (usually before the print data of the first page).

  Then, the computer 51 transmits the print job data by the PDL created by the printer driver in this way to the image forming system according to a user instruction (for example, input of print start not shown) (S5).

  Note that a print job is usually a collection of data to be printed (print data) such as characters and images to be printed and a print setting command in a PDL.

  Next, a process procedure of ring binding in the image forming system will be described.

  Ring binding processing in the image forming system is roughly divided into reception processing for a print job sent from the computer 51 and RIP processing for converting each page in the received print job into bitmap data.

  FIG. 6 is a flowchart for explaining the reception processing procedure.

  First, when receiving a print job from the computer 51 (S11), the CPU 21 stores the print job in the memory 23 in the received page order (S12). At this time, the print setting at that time is extracted from the description content of the PDL in the print job, and is stored in the memory 23 as the print setting (S13). This operation is continued until the last page is received. Since this reception process is received in page order, the process of S13 is also performed for all pages, but instructions for all pages to be printed, such as ring binding, are usually written at the beginning of the PDL. Because it is taken out from there. Therefore, the print setting is stored in the memory 23 before the data of the page to be actually printed.

  The CPU 21 that controls reception of such a print job functions as a receiving unit together with the communication interface.

  7 and 8 are flowcharts showing the procedure of the RIP process.

  This RIP process is a process performed in parallel with the reception process.

  The CPU 21 reads out the print settings taken out during the print job reception process from the memory 23 (S21). The print settings read out at this stage are those extracted in S13 in the reception process described above.

  Then, the CPU 21 checks whether or not there is a ring binding setting from the contents of the read print setting (S22). If there is no ring binding setting, the CPU 21 reads the data of each page of the PDL stored in the above-described S12 in order as usual (S23), and passes it to the RIP unit 22 according to the print settings for rasterization (S23). S24). Then, the bitmap data obtained by rasterization by the RIP unit 22 is transmitted to the printing unit 3 (S25). The printing unit 3 prints the received bitmap data sequentially. Then, as usual, when the transmission of all pages to the printing unit 3 is completed, this processing procedure ends.

  On the other hand, if there is a ring binding setting in S22, the CPU 21 subsequently determines whether or not reception of the page of the PDL data at the band surplus portion insertion position included in the ring binding setting is completed ( S26). This determination may be performed by confirming the page number during the reception process of S11 in the above-described reception process procedure, or by confirming the page number stored in the memory 23 in S12.

  Here, when the reception of the PDL data page at the belt-like surplus portion insertion position has not been completed (that is, when the reception of the page at the belt-like surplus portion insertion position has not been checked), the page for which the reception of the PDL data has been completed. Then, the PDL data page of the page is read from the memory 23 (S27) and passed to the RIP unit 22 for rasterization (S28). The obtained bitmap data is temporarily stored in the hard disk 25 (S29). When the processing is completed for each page of data read from the memory 23, the process returns to S26 to determine again. As described above, since the print job reception process and the RIP process are performed in parallel, the PDL data page of the page designated as the band surplus portion insertion position even if the procedure of the RIP process is started. It is conceivable that the reception has not been completed. For this reason, at the stage where reception of the page designated as the band-like surplus portion insertion position is not completed in this way, only rasterization of the received page is performed.

  Note that when the number of pages to be printed is small, reception of the PDL data page at the band-like surplus portion insertion position may be completed immediately. In such a case, the received page may be immediately rasterized and sent to the printing unit 3 without being temporarily stored. This is determined by, for example, the number of final pages included in the print setting written at the beginning of the PDL data.

  On the other hand, when the reception of the PDL data page at the band surplus portion insertion position is completed in S22, the CPU 21 reads the PDL data page at the band surplus portion insertion position from the memory 23 (S30) and passes it to the RIP unit 22 for rasterization. (S31). The bitmap data obtained by rasterization is transmitted directly to the printing unit 3 without being stored in the hard disk 25 (S32). In the printing unit 3, printing is performed in the order of sending (the same applies hereinafter).

  Subsequently, the CPU 21 determines whether or not the rasterization has been completed up to the final page (S33). If the rasterization has not been completed, the CPU 21 returns to S30 and continues the processing. On the other hand, when the rasterization to the last page is completed, the bitmap data temporarily stored in the hard disk 25 is sequentially read from the first page and transmitted to the printing unit 3 (S34).

  Further, the CPU 21 determines whether or not an unrasterized page exists (S35). If there is an unexecuted page, the CPU 21 executes rasterization and temporary storage to the hard disk 25 for all remaining pages (S36). Thereafter, it is determined whether or not rasterization has been completed for all the pages (S37). If not completed, the process returns to S36, and if completed, the process returns to S34, and the subsequent processing is continued.

  On the other hand, if there is no page that has not been rasterized in S35, the bitmap data of all the pages has been transmitted to the printing unit 3, and this processing procedure ends.

  Note that the reading from the hard disk 25, the transmission to the printing unit 3 (S35), the rasterization of the pages that have not been rasterized, and the temporary storage to the hard disk 25 (S36, S37) may be performed in parallel.

  The above is the ring-binding image forming processing procedure. The post-processing device 4 performs the ring binding set by the print setting on the sheet bundle printed by this processing.

  Next, the processing time when the belt-like surplus portion is arbitrarily set as described above will be described.

  FIG. 9 is an explanatory diagram for explaining how to change the page order when the insertion position of the belt-like surplus portion is the m-th page.

  When the belt-like surplus portion insertion position is the m-th page, as shown in FIG. 9A, the belt-like surplus portion is inserted between the (m−1) -th page and the m-th page.

  On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 9B, the printing order (in this embodiment, the order in which bitmap data is transmitted to the printing unit) is the m-th page first, the m + 1-th page, and the last page. After the nth page is printed, the first page to the (m-1) th page are printed. That is, the page designated as the belt-like surplus portion insertion position is the page to be printed first.

  FIG. 10 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the time required for the printing process when the present embodiment is applied and the insertion position of the belt-like surplus portion is the m-th page.

  As shown in FIG. 10, in this embodiment, first, if there are received pages, rasterization is started in that order, and the rasterized pages are temporarily stored. Normally, since the first page is received, the first page and the second page are rasterized and temporarily stored in the figure. When the m-th page is received, the page order that has been rasterized up to that point is ignored, the received m-th page is rasterized, and printing is executed as it is. In the figure, when the mth page is received, the rasterization of the (m-1) th page is not performed, but this is skipped and the rasterization is performed from the mth page. Thereafter, when rasterizing and printing from the m-th page to the n-th page, the temporarily stored first page is read and printed in order, and the (m-1) -th page is unrasterized, so this is rasterized and printed.

  As described above, in this embodiment, when the m-th page is received before all the pages are received, rasterization and printing can be executed sequentially from the m-th page, and accordingly, the time required for printing all the pages is shortened accordingly. Become. Until the m-th page is received, the rasterization is performed in the order received and the bitmap data is temporarily stored. For this reason, when the nth page (last page) is received and the rasterization and printing are completed, the bitmap data temporarily stored in sequence can be read and printed. Therefore, after the printing of the nth page is completed, printing can be performed faster than when rasterization is performed again from the first page. Further, during that time (after printing of the nth page and after printing of the rasterized page), if there are unrasterized pages, they can be rasterized. For this reason, the time during this time can be used effectively, and the time taken to complete the printing can be shortened.

  Here, the time required for the printing process when the insertion position of the belt-like surplus part is set to the m-th page without performing the process as in the present embodiment will be described. FIG. 11 is an explanatory diagram for explaining the time required for the printing process when printing the page (m-th page) at the insertion position of the belt-like surplus part after receiving all pages in order from the first page.

  When all pages are received sequentially from the first page and then the page (m-th page) at the insertion position of the belt-like surplus portion is printed, for example, as shown in FIG. 11, first all pages from page 1 to page n are received. After that, the m-th page is searched from among them, and rasterization and printing are performed. In this case, neither rasterization nor printing can be performed until reception of all pages is completed. Therefore, as compared with the present embodiment, the time required for the end of the entire printing is increased accordingly.

  According to this embodiment described above, the following effects are obtained.

  In the present embodiment, the time point after receiving the page designated as the band surplus part insertion position (the band surplus part insertion page) from the PDL data received in the page order (or when the page is stored in the memory 23). In this case, the designated page to the last page are preferentially rasterized and printed. For this reason, after receiving all the pages, the printing process can be executed faster than the process of changing the page order and transmitting to the printing unit. As a result, it is possible to obtain a ring-bound booklet that is bound with the band-shaped surplus portion placed at an arbitrarily designated insertion position.

  In addition, in the present embodiment, until the band surplus portion insertion page is received, rasterization is performed in the order received and bitmap data is temporarily stored. For this reason, when the rasterizing and printing are completed after receiving the band surplus portion insertion page, the bitmap data temporarily stored in sequence can be read out and printed immediately. Therefore, after the printing from the band surplus portion insertion page to the last page is completed, printing can be performed faster than rasterization from the first page. Further, if there are unrasterized pages during that period (after printing the last page and after printing the rasterized page), they can be rasterized. For this reason, the time during this time can be used effectively, and the time taken to complete the printing can be shortened.

  Although the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to this embodiment.

  For example, although the position where the band-like surplus part is inserted is arbitrarily designated, the position (page) may be determined in advance in case the insertion position is not designated by the user. The predetermined position is preferably such that, for example, a band-like surplus portion is inserted between the last page and the previous page. In order to do this, if there is no designation of the band surplus portion insertion position, it may be determined that the last page becomes the band surplus portion insertion page. Thus, the completed ring-bound booklet can be turned into a ring-bound booklet with the band-shaped surplus portion hidden by turning the last page on the band-shaped surplus portion.

  In the above-described embodiment, the system to which the post-processing device is connected has been described as the image forming system. However, the present invention can be implemented even when the post-processing apparatus is not always connected as such a system. For example, by causing only the image forming operation of the embodiment (that is, only print output) to be performed, the page at the arbitrarily specified band-like surplus portion insertion position is the top (or bottom) of the sheet bundle as a sheet bundle after printing. Print to come. After that, if the sheet bundle is put into the ring binding device as it is, a ring-bound booklet is completed in a state where the belt-like surplus portion is placed above (or below) the page at the designated insertion position. After that, if it is necessary to turn the page and place it on the belt-like surplus part, it can be a ring-bound booklet with the belt-like surplus part hidden.

  In this embodiment, the rasterization is performed by the dedicated RIP unit. However, instead of this, the CPU may be implemented by a rasterization function provided as software.

  In addition, the present invention can be variously modified based on the configurations described in the claims.

1 image forming system,
2 control unit,
3 Printing department,
4 post-processing equipment,
21 CPU,
22 RIP section,
23 memory,
25 hard disk,
26 communication interface,
27 Operation part,
31 Paper feeder,
32 print engine,
33 buffer memory,
50 network,
51 computers,
101 Ring binding tool,
111 rings,
151 binding holes,
112 strip surplus part,
200 Ring-bound booklet,
250 paper bundle.

Claims (4)

A receiving means for receiving a print job in which a setting for designating a band surplus portion insertion position used for ring binding is written together with print data which is data to be printed;
Rasterizing means for converting the print data in the print job into bitmap data;
Storage means for temporarily storing bitmap data obtained by rasterization by the rasterization means;
Printing means for printing the bitmap data;
From the received print job, the print data in the print job received by the receiving unit is received until the band surplus portion insertion position is detected and the page of the detected band surplus portion insertion position is received. The rasterization means rasterizes the pages in order, and the obtained bitmap data is temporarily stored in the storage means, and when the page of the detected belt-like surplus portion insertion position is received, the page of the belt-like surplus portion insertion position is received. From the first page to the last page is preferentially rasterized by the rasterizing unit, the page of the obtained bitmap data is printed by the printing unit, and the unprinted page stored in the storage unit after the final page is printed is printed by the printing unit Control means for printing on
An image forming apparatus comprising:   The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the setting for designating the band surplus portion insertion position is written in a print job by a print job creation apparatus in advance when the print job is created. A step of receiving a print job in which a setting for designating a band surplus portion insertion position used for ring binding is written together with print data that is data to be printed;
From the received print job, until the band surplus portion insertion position is detected and a page at the detected band surplus portion insertion position is received, the print data in the received print job is received. Rasterize in order, temporarily store the obtained bitmap data in the storage means, and when receiving the detected page of the band surplus part insertion position, the page from the band surplus part insertion position to the last page is given priority Rasterizing and printing the resulting bitmap data page;
Printing an unprinted page stored in the storage means after printing the last page;
An image forming method comprising:   4. The image forming method according to claim 3, wherein the setting for designating the band surplus portion insertion position is written in a print job by a print job creation device when the print job is created in advance.

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