JP2014004839A - Image forming apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide an image forming apparatus capable of efficiently forming images by using available resources, and capable of controlling execution of printing data so that image formation results which are formed from a plurality of printing data do not overlap each other.SOLUTION: Printing data received by an image input unit 1 are compressed by an image compression decompression unit 4 and are stored in a memory unit 5. A job control unit 3 checks that printing resources of a printing unit 6 satisfy conditions of printing for the printing data. When a lack of resources is found before even one page of image is formed, the printing unit 6 is released to enable a following job to take over, but when a lack of resources is found after even one page of the image is formed, the printing unit 6 is not released, and restoration of the resources is waited as it is. Accordingly, image formation results which are formed from a plurality of the printing data can be prevented from overlapping each other in the same paper ejection bin. In the case of ejection to a different paper ejection bin, taking over by the following job is possible.

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that receives a plurality of print data and forms an image based on the print data.

  In recent years, there has been a remarkable increase in functionality of image forming apparatuses. For example, apparatuses having a plurality of paper trays and a plurality of bins for discharging paper have been developed. Further, a large capacity external storage device such as a large capacity memory or an HDD is often mounted on the image forming apparatus. By using such a large-capacity storage device, a plurality of print data can be expanded and stored in the storage device in a printable state. As a result, it is possible to divide the print data development process and the print data print process and operate them in parallel, and to increase the speed of the image forming process.

  However, as the received print data is processed in sequence, the used paper size may run out or color materials such as ink and toner for forming an image may run out. In such a case, the image forming process has been stopped until paper and color materials are supplied. However, when a plurality of paper trays are provided as described above, other sizes of paper can be used, and print data using the available size of paper can be imaged. An image cannot be formed. Similarly, for example, when a color image is formed and there is no color material other than black, the print data for forming a monochrome image is formed even though the image can be formed. I couldn't.

  As a technique for preventing such inconvenience, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-245491 discloses developed print image data even when printing cannot be performed due to a lack of printing resources such as paper during printing of print data. Is stored in a storage device and printing of subsequent print data that does not use insufficient resources has been proposed. With such a technique, even when some print resources are insufficient, image formation can be performed on print data that does not use the insufficient resources, and the image forming apparatus can be used effectively.

  However, if image formation of the subsequent print data is executed only by determining whether or not the print resource can be used, the image formation result of the preceding print data that is stopped in the middle of the image formation is changed to the discharge tray or the discharge bin. In addition, the image formation results of the subsequent print data are overlapped and discharged. As a result, the image formation results of different print data overlap each other on the same paper discharge tray and paper discharge bin, resulting in an increase in sorting effort and the loss of the advantages of previously forming images for subsequent print data. There was a problem.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-836 JP-A-5-755 JP 2000-6499 A

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described circumstances, and can efficiently form an image using available resources and execute print data so that image formation results of a plurality of print data do not overlap. An object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus that controls the above.

  The present invention is an image forming apparatus that receives a plurality of print data and forms an image using the image forming means, and has a control means for checking resources necessary for forming an image by the image forming means. When the control unit determines that the resources necessary to form an image without forming an image by checking the resources are insufficient, the control unit checks the image based on other subsequent print data. The formation is controlled so as to overtake the formation of the image based on the print data, and after the image formation of one page or more is performed, the resources required to form the image by the resource check are insufficient. When it is determined that the image forming means is present, control is performed so as to wait for resource recovery without releasing the image forming means.

  With such a configuration, if there is no image formed at the time when resources required for processing print data, for example, are insufficient due to resource checks, the print data is suspended and the image forming means is released. By controlling so that other print data is overtaken, the image forming apparatus can be used effectively. If it is determined that the resources necessary for processing the print data after the image formation for one or more pages is insufficient, the image forming means is not released and the recovery of the resources is awaited. By performing the control, the execution of the print data can be controlled so that the image formation results of the plurality of print data do not overlap.

  As is apparent from the above description, according to the present invention, when the preceding job is put on hold due to lack of resources, the apparatus is enabled by performing the image forming process by overtaking the preceding job by the succeeding job. At this time, if at least one page of the preceding job is output, overtaking by the succeeding job is suppressed. As a result, it is possible to prevent the image formation outputs of a plurality of jobs from overlapping.

It is a block block diagram which shows one Embodiment of this invention. It is a flowchart which shows an example of the accumulation | storage process in one Embodiment of this invention. 6 is a flowchart illustrating an example of a printing process according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a flowchart which shows another example of the printing process in one Embodiment of this invention.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing an embodiment of the present invention. In the figure, 1 is an image input unit, 2 is a display operation unit, 3 is a job control unit, 4 is an image compression / decompression unit, 5 is a storage unit, 6 is a printing unit, 11 is a communication control unit, 12 is a network communication unit, Reference numeral 13 denotes an image scanner, and reference numeral 14 denotes a PDL development unit. In the image input unit 1, print data to be printed by the printing unit 6 is input. There are various ways of receiving the print data. Here, the print data is received by three methods, and the communication control unit 11, the network communication unit 12, and the image scanner 13 are provided as a configuration for that purpose. The communication control unit 11 is connected to, for example, a public line and controls transmission / reception of facsimile images. The facsimile image received by the communication control unit 11 is transferred to the image compression / decompression unit 4 as it is. The network communication unit 12 is connected to a network such as a LAN and communicates with other network devices. For example, data described in PDL or the like can be received from another network device via a network or the like. In this case, the PDL development unit 14 develops the PDL data into printable image data or the like, and passes it to the image compression / decompression unit 4. Further, the image scanner 13 reads an image on a document, for example, and passes the image data to the image compression / decompression unit 4. Here, an example is shown in which three types of print data input means are provided, but any two or one may be used, and of course, another input means may be provided.

  The display operation unit 2 notifies the user of the operation status of the apparatus and receives instructions from the user.

  The job control unit 3 takes a set of print data input by the image input unit 1 as one job, and controls the flow of a plurality of jobs. At this time, when a plurality of jobs are waiting for the printing unit 6 to become free, the execution status of the job in which the printing unit 6 previously formed an image is determined, and the job to be executed next is processed. The resources in the printing unit 6 necessary for this are checked to determine the possibility of processing the print data, and the job execution order is controlled based on these determination results. For example, when the preceding job is put on hold due to a lack of resources or the like, if no page is formed at that time, control is performed so that the succeeding job is executed by overtaking the preceding job. In addition, when image formation of one or more pages has been performed when the preceding job is put on hold, control is performed to wait for resource recovery as it is, and the image formation result of the preceding job and the image of the subsequent job are controlled. Ensure that the formation results do not overlap. Further, when the printing unit 6 is provided with a plurality of bins for discharging the paper after image formation, even if one or more pages are formed when the preceding job is put on hold, When a job uses a different bin, control can be performed so that the succeeding job is executed by overtaking the preceding job. The detailed operation of the job control unit 3 will be described later.

  The image compression / decompression unit 4 compresses the print data input by the image input unit 1 as necessary and transfers it to the storage unit 5. Further, the compressed print data stored in the storage unit 5 is decompressed and transferred to the printing unit 6. Further, for example, when a facsimile image is input by the image input unit 1, a function of decoding by a predetermined encoding method may be included.

  The storage unit 5 stores the print data input by the image input unit 1 in a state compressed by the image compression / decompression unit 4, for example. The print data is stored in units of pages, for example. It is also possible to store print data for a plurality of jobs. The storage unit 5 can be configured by an external storage device such as a hard disk device or a large-capacity semiconductor memory.

  The printing unit 6 forms an image on a sheet, for example, according to the print data. In order to form an image, the printing unit 6 uses various resources according to print data. For example, one or a plurality of sizes and directions of paper may be provided, and any one of the papers may be selected and used. Further, for example, a configuration in which a color image can be formed and a plurality of color materials is used may be used. As the color material, for example, a toner is used when the image forming method is an electrophotographic method, an ink is used when the ink jet method is used, and a donor film is used when the thermal transfer method is used. In other image forming methods, color materials according to the image forming method are used. Further, in order to discharge the paper after image formation, a configuration including a plurality of bins may be employed. In the following description of the operation, a case where one bin and a plurality of bins for discharging the sheet are described.

  Next, an example of the operation in the above configuration will be described. Here, an accumulation process for performing processing from when the print data is received by the image input unit 1 until it is stored in the storage unit 5, and a process for reading the print data from the storage unit 5 and forming an image by the printing unit 6 are performed. It is assumed that the printing process to be performed operates in parallel, and each process will be described.

  FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing an example of accumulation processing according to the embodiment of the present invention. Here, a case where the network communication unit 12 of the image input unit 1 receives PDL data from another network device will be described. In S21, when the network communication unit 12 receives PDL data from another network device via the network, in S22, the PDL data received in S21 is temporarily stored in a reception buffer (not shown).

  Subsequently, in S23, it is checked whether or not the PDL development unit 14 is usable. If the PDL development unit 14 cannot be used, the PDL data in the preceding job is used because the preceding job is used in S24. Until the PDL development unit 14 is released. If the PDL developing unit 14 is usable (or if the PDL developing unit 14 becomes usable), in S25, the PDL developing unit 14 develops PDL data for one page into image data that can be formed as an image. In S26, the image data expanded in S25 is transferred to the image compression / decompression unit 4 and compressed, and stored in the storage unit 5 in S27.

  Next, in S28, it is determined whether or not it is the last page. If it is not the last page, the number of pages is updated in S29, and the process returns to S25 to develop the PDL data of the next page into image data. In this way, processing is performed for each page, and when the processing is completed up to the last page, the accumulation processing is terminated. In this way, PDL data sent from other network devices via the network is developed into image data for each page, compressed, and stored in the storage unit 5. When the image data of all pages is stored in the storage unit 5, this job is added to the end of the print queue. Alternatively, when the priority is high, it is inserted at a position corresponding to the priority.

  When the communication control unit 11 receives a facsimile image, the facsimile image has already been compressed and is stored in the storage unit 5 as it is in units of pages, or once decoded by the image compression / decompression unit 4 and then stored in a predetermined unit. Can be stored in the storage unit 5. When the image on the original is read by the image scanner 13, the image compression / expansion unit 4 may compress the image every time one page is read and store the data in the storage unit 5.

  FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating an example of the printing process according to the embodiment of the present invention. When the above accumulation process is completed, the printing process is started. In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, it is assumed that the printing unit 6 has one bin for discharging paper.

  First, in S31, the first job in the print queue is acquired. At this time, the job for which printing is suspended is not acquired, and the first job among the jobs that are not suspended is acquired. When the job is acquired, in S32, it is determined whether or not the resources of the printing unit 6 satisfy the printing conditions specified in the job. The resources to be determined here are, for example, paper and color materials. For example, when full color is designated as the printing condition and there is no color material of any color, it is determined that the printing resource is insufficient. Also, it is determined that the print resource is insufficient when there is no paper of the paper size specified in the print condition in the tray. If it is determined that the print condition is not satisfied, job hold processing for putting the job in a hold state is performed in S34. By performing the job hold processing, the job is removed from the print queue and is not acquired when the print-waiting job is acquired in S31. When the printing resource is recovered, the notification is received, the hold state is released for the job that is going to use the recovered resource, and the job is returned to the printing queue.

  If the printing unit 6 satisfies the printing conditions, it is checked in step S33 whether the printing unit 6 is in use. If the printing unit 6 is in use, it waits for the printing unit 6 to become free in S35. When the printing unit 6 is not in use or when the printing unit 6 is released, a variable PAGE indicating a page is initialized to 1 in S36.

  Subsequently, the print resource is checked in S37 and S38. In S37, the color material is checked. If there is no color material used in the printing conditions of the job, job hold processing for putting the job on hold is performed in S44. In S38, the paper is checked. It is checked whether or not there is paper in the paper tray designated by the print condition of the job. If there is no paper in the designated paper tray, another paper tray is checked in S43. If there is a paper of the same size in another paper tray, the paper tray is switched in S42, and the process goes to S38. Return. In this case, it is checked again whether or not there is a sheet in the switched sheet tray. If no paper of the same size is found in another paper tray, job hold processing is performed to place the job on hold in S44.

  After performing the job hold processing in S44, the output page is checked in S45. If it is determined that the variable PAGE is 1 or less and no page is output, the printing unit 6 is released in S46, and the next Can accept any job. That is, in this case, the subsequent job is executed by overtaking the job. Since no sheets have been discharged to the discharged bin, the sheets on which images are formed by a plurality of jobs do not overlap.

  If it is determined in S45 that the variable PAGE is larger than 1 and one page or more of the image is formed and the sheet is ejected to the bin, when the subsequent job is executed, the image is formed by a plurality of jobs. The stacked sheets will overlap. In this case, the printing unit 6 is not released and the recovery of the printing resource is waited in S47. When the print resource is recovered, the process returns to S37 and the print resource is checked again.

  If it is determined in S37 and S38 that there is a print resource to be used in the job, an image of the page specified by the variable PAGE is formed for one page in S39. In S40, it is checked whether or not it is the last page. If it is not the last page, the process proceeds to S41, and the variable PAGE is incremented by 1 so that the image forming process for the next page is performed, and the process returns to S37. In this way, image formation is performed page by page, and when the image is formed up to the last page, the print processing in the job is terminated. Note that the printing unit 6 is released upon completion of the printing process, and other jobs can be used.

  When a print job is stopped due to a shortage of resources due to such print processing, the paper on which an image is formed by the subsequent print job is discharged in a state where the paper up to the middle page exists in the bin where the paper is discharged. , It is possible to prevent problems such as overlapping. Of course, if no page is ejected to the bin, the succeeding job is executed overtaking the preceding job, so that the apparatus can be used effectively.

  FIG. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another example of the printing process according to the embodiment of the present invention. In the example shown in FIG. 4, for example, a stacker is provided in the printing unit 6 and a plurality of bins for discharging paper are provided. Steps that perform the same processing as in FIG.

  First, in S31, the first job in the print queue is acquired. At this time, the job for which printing is suspended is not acquired, and the first job among the jobs that are not suspended is acquired. When the job is acquired, in S32, it is determined whether or not the resources of the printing unit 6 satisfy the printing conditions specified in the job. The resources to be determined here are, for example, paper, color material, paper discharge bin, and the like. For example, when full color is designated as the printing condition and there is no color material of any color, it is determined that the printing resource is insufficient. Also, it is determined that the print resource is insufficient when there is no paper of the paper size specified in the print condition in the tray. Further, when a bin is specified in the printing condition, it is determined that the resource is insufficient when the bin cannot be used. If it is determined that the print condition is not satisfied, job hold processing for putting the job in a hold state is performed in S34. By performing the job hold processing, the job is removed from the print queue and is not acquired when the print-waiting job is acquired in S31. When the printing resource is recovered, the notification is received, the hold state is released for the job that is going to use the recovered resource, and the job is returned to the printing queue.

  If the printing unit 6 satisfies the printing conditions, it is checked in step S33 whether the printing unit 6 is in use. If the printing unit 6 is in use, it waits for the printing unit 6 to become free in S35. When the printing unit 6 is not in use or when the printing unit 6 is released, a variable PAGE indicating a page is initialized to 1 in S36.

  Subsequently, printing resources are checked in S37, S38, and S51. In S37, the color material is checked. If there is no color material used in the printing conditions of the job, job hold processing for putting the job on hold is performed in S44. In S38, the paper is checked. It is checked whether or not there is paper in the paper tray designated by the print condition of the job. If there is no paper in the designated paper tray, another paper tray is checked in S43. If there is a paper of the same size in another paper tray, the paper tray is switched in S42, and the process goes to S38. Return. In this case, it is checked again whether or not there is a sheet in the switched sheet tray. If no paper of the same size is found in another paper tray, job hold processing is performed to place the job on hold in S44.

  After performing the job hold processing in S44, the output page is checked in S45. If it is determined that the variable PAGE is 1 or less and no page is output, the printing unit 6 is released in S46, and the next Can accept any job. That is, in this case, the subsequent job is executed by overtaking the job. Since no sheets have been discharged to the discharged bin, the sheets on which images are formed by a plurality of jobs do not overlap.

  Further, in S51, it is checked whether or not the bin specified in the printing condition can be used. The state where the bin cannot be used is broken or full of paper. If it is determined that the designated bin is unusable, job hold processing for putting the job on hold is performed in S52. In this case, image formation is possible for jobs using other bins. Accordingly, the printing unit 6 is opened in S46, and the next job can be accepted. Since bins that cannot be used in the job cannot be used in subsequent jobs, sheets formed with images by a plurality of jobs do not overlap in the same bin.

  If it is determined in S37, S38, or S51 that there is a print resource designated as a print condition, an image of the page designated by the variable PAGE is formed for one page in S39. In S40, it is checked whether or not it is the last page. If it is not the last page, the process proceeds to S41, and the variable PAGE is incremented by 1 so that the image forming process for the next page is performed, and the process returns to S37. In this way, image formation is performed page by page, and when the image is formed up to the last page, the print processing in the job is terminated. Note that the printing unit 6 is released upon completion of the printing process, and other jobs can be used.

  When a print job is stopped due to a shortage of resources due to such print processing, the paper on which an image is formed by the subsequent print job is discharged in a state where the paper up to the middle page exists in the bin where the paper is discharged. , It is possible to prevent problems such as overlapping. Of course, when no page is ejected to the bin or when another bin is used, the succeeding job is executed overtaking the preceding job, so that the apparatus can be used effectively. In particular, even when the bin is full and stopped, the subsequent job can be executed. Therefore, the time for which the printing process is stopped can be reduced, and the productivity can be improved.

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Image input part, 2 ... Display operation part, 3 ... Job control part, 4 ... Image compression / expansion part, 5 ... Memory | storage part, 6 ... Printing part, 11 ... Communication control part, 12 ... Network communication part, 13 ... Image Scanner, 14... PDL development unit.

Claims (1)

  In an image forming apparatus that receives a plurality of print data and forms an image, an image forming unit that forms an image based on the print data and a resource necessary to form an image are checked by the image forming unit. A control unit that releases the image forming unit when the resource check determines that the resources necessary to form the image are insufficient without forming a single page. Then, the image formation based on the other print data is controlled so as to overtake the image formation based on the print data, and after the image formation for one page or more, the resource check is performed to check the resource formation. An image form characterized by controlling to wait for recovery of resources without releasing the image forming means when it is determined that the resources necessary to form an image are insufficient. Apparatus.

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