JP2019209626A - Image formation apparatus, information processing terminal and computer program - Google Patents

Abstract

To facilitate specifying of a position of a sheet formed with an image corresponding to a desired image formation job from the sheets formed with the images discharged to plural locations.SOLUTION: An image formation apparatus stores loading state information indicating the loading state of a sheet formed with an image discharged to a sheet discharge destination, and performs mapping-display of sheet images 220, 230, 232, 1302, 1304 according to the loading state on corresponding positions of an entire image 201 showing the entire device configuration of the sheet discharge destination of a monitor screen 200. A display region 210 for a display job list is provided on the monitor screen 200. When retrieval is performed through a retrieval window, only desired image formation jobs 1301, 1303 including the sheet discharge destination are displayed on the display job list, and the corresponding sheet images 1302, 1304 are displayed in a manner of being distinguished from the other sheet image 230 and the like.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 13

Description

  The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus and an information processing terminal to which a plurality of paper discharge devices can be attached.

  There is a service form of image formation (for example, printing) called print on demand (POD) or production printing. In such a service form, for example, an order for image formation of a small lot and a variety of products is received from a customer. Then, the image is quickly formed using an image forming apparatus that operates at high speed, and delivered. At that time, image formation on a large number of sheets (sheet-like paper, the same applies hereinafter) is quickly performed and discharged. A large-capacity stacker is prepared at the paper discharge destination. The large-capacity stacker includes, for example, a stacking table that can be raised and lowered according to the stacking height of sheets, and can stack thousands of sheets at a time. In addition, when multiple such large-capacity stackers are connected and one large-capacity stacker is fully loaded (when no more stacking is possible, the same applies hereinafter), paper is automatically discharged to another large-capacity stacker. Image formation can be continued by switching the destination. In this case, the image-formed sheet corresponding to the same job is divided into a plurality of parts and discharged. In the following description, the “image-formed sheet” may be simply referred to as “sheet”.

  On the other hand, the operator performs an operation of collecting the discharged sheet and proceeding to the next process. However, when sheets are stacked on a plurality of paper discharge destinations and sheets according to one job are stacked across a plurality of parts, it is difficult to specify a part on which a desired sheet is stacked. As a solution to this point, the technique described in Patent Document 1 accepts a request for confirming the sheet discharge destination for each job, and displays the output discharge destination. As a result, it is easy to confirm the location where the sheets corresponding to the job are stacked, and the sheets can be reliably collected.

JP 2013-146898 A

  In the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-228561, a paper discharge destination where a sheet is not discharged is not displayed. For this reason, in a configuration in which a plurality of paper discharge devices are connected to the image forming apparatus, the operator must always pay attention to which paper discharge device corresponds to the displayed paper discharge destination. Even when there are a plurality of image forming jobs, only the sheet discharge destination corresponding to the selected image forming job is displayed. In addition, what is displayed at that time is a stacking state at the time when a sheet corresponding to the selected image forming job is discharged. For this reason, it has not been possible to accurately grasp the stacking status at the time of collecting sheets by the image forming job.

  The main object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of easily grasping a stacking state of sheets discharged by a desired image forming job.

  An image forming apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention can stack an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet according to an image forming job, and an image-formed sheet that is discharged from the image forming unit for each image forming job. And a second information representing a stacking state of the image-formed sheets for each image forming job in the sheet stacking unit, and a first information representing an arrangement mode of the sheet stacking unit with respect to the image forming unit. A whole image representing the arrangement mode is generated based on the storage means and the first information, a search window for the second information is generated, and the generated whole image and the search window are displayed on a predetermined display means. Control means, and when the character string is input through the search window, the control means performs an image forming job that matches the character string. A sheet image representing the stacking status of the searched image forming job and a display job list including the image forming job are generated by searching from the second information, and the generated sheet image and display job list are generated. Is displayed on the display means.

  According to the present invention, it becomes easy to grasp the stacking state of image-formed sheets corresponding to a desired image forming job. Thereby, it is possible to reduce mistakes in taking out the image-formed sheet.

1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming system. The schematic diagram showing the example of the content of a monitor screen. The schematic diagram which showed the example of the content of the loading condition information. Schematic diagram showing an example of the contents of a job list. 7 is a control flow of the image forming apparatus when processing an image forming job. A control flow for updating a paper discharge destination after image formation. The control flow at the time of application activation in the information processing terminal. Control flow when creating a job list. A control flow when sheet removal from the paper discharge tray is detected. Control flow when creating a job list. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram illustrating an example of the contents of a job list including a searched image forming job. 7 is a control flow for displaying a sheet bundle corresponding to a searched image forming job. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which searched image forming jobs are displayed.

[First Embodiment]
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an image forming system to which the present invention is applied. The image forming system 1 is configured by connecting an information processing terminal 100 and an image forming apparatus 101 to a communication network 105. In this example, an example in which the information processing terminal 100 and the image forming apparatus 101 are one is shown, but there may be a plurality of each. The communication network 105 is a LAN (Local Area Network). However, the communication network 105 may be a WAN (Wide Area Network), a combination of LAN and WAN, or a wired network.

  The information processing terminal 100 includes a network communication unit 110, a control unit 111, a storage unit 112, a display unit 113, and an input unit 114. The network communication unit 110 is a communication unit that controls communication performed with the communication network 105. The storage unit 112 is storage means for storing a large amount of data temporarily or for a long time. In this example, the image forming apparatus 101 connected to the information processing terminal 100 through the communication network 105 is registered in the storage unit 112 of the information processing terminal 100. The display unit 113 is display means for performing various displays for the operator. In the present embodiment, an entire image and a sheet image to be described later are displayed. The input unit 114 accepts various instructions from the operator, range specification, input data, job specification, keyword search expression, and the like. When the display unit 113 is configured by a touch panel, various instructions from the operator can be input from the display unit 113 (for example, a corresponding image in the monitor screen 200 described later).

  The control unit 111 is a kind of computer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM. A CPU (Central Processing Unit) forms various functions in the information processing terminal 100 by executing a computer program for terminal control. This will be described later. A ROM (Read Only Memory) stores the computer program and the like. A RAM (Random Access Memory) is a work memory of the CPU.

  The image forming apparatus 101 includes a network communication unit 120, a control unit 121, a storage unit 122, a paper discharge device mounting port 123, and an image forming unit 124. The network communication unit 120 is a communication unit that controls communication performed with the communication network 105. The storage unit 122 is a storage unit that stores various setting data and large-capacity data temporarily or for a long time. The paper discharge device mounting port 123 is a mounting unit for mounting a paper discharge device as an example of a sheet stacking unit. The image forming unit 124 is an image forming unit that forms an image on a sheet for each input image forming job.

  The control unit 121 is a computer including a CPU, a ROM, and a RAM. It may be an embedded computer. The CPU forms various functions in the image forming apparatus 101 by executing a computer program for image formation control, and operates as a control unit that controls the operation of each function. This will be described later. The ROM stores the computer program for controlling the terminal. RAM is a work memory of the CPU.

  The storage unit 122 of the image forming apparatus 101 stores job data 130, a job list 131, device display information 132, stacking status information 133, and the like. The job data 130 includes image data and instruction data generated by analyzing the input image forming job, image data after executing the image forming job, data on the execution process of the image forming job, and the like. The job list 131 is list information in which image forming jobs handled by the image forming apparatus 101 are recorded. For example, job attributes such as job ID, job name, number of pages, number of copies, and paper are associated and recorded in the job list 131.

  The image forming jobs listed in the job list 131 include jobs that have been processed, processed, and processed. Each image forming job is in one of four states according to the processing status, that is, waiting, before processing, during processing, and processed. “Standby” represents a state in which the image forming apparatus 101 has received an image forming job but has not yet received an image forming instruction from an operator. When the image forming apparatus 101 receives an image forming instruction for the waiting image forming job, the state of the image forming job becomes “before processing”. When the image forming process of the image forming job is started and the sheet can be discharged (discharged), the state of the image forming job becomes “processing”. After that, when the image forming process is finished and the image forming for every processing unit, for example, for each page is finished, the state of the image forming job becomes “processed”. Thus, the state of the image forming job also represents the progress of the image forming process. The contents of the job list 131 will be described in detail later with reference to FIG.

  The apparatus display information 132 is an example of first information that represents an overall arrangement mode of a plurality of sheet stacking units, and is referred to when generating an entire image, which will be described later. In this example, since the image forming unit is the image forming apparatus 101 and the sheet stacking unit is the paper discharge device, the external appearance, structure, size, and overall appearance of the connection of the image forming device 101 and the paper discharge device, Information representing the structure, size, and the like is referred to as device display information 132. For example, it is assumed that three paper discharge devices are daisy-connected to the image forming apparatus 101. In this case, the first paper discharge device adjacent to the image forming apparatus 101 is arranged as the first unit, and thereafter, the second paper discharge device and the third paper discharge device are sequentially arranged. The device display information 132 is determined according to the combination of the connected paper discharge devices. The paper discharge devices are arranged so as to be exchangeable with other paper discharge devices, respectively. Therefore, the device display information 132 is updated to the latest information as appropriate.

  The stacking status information 133 is an example of second information indicating the stacking status of image-formed sheets in each sheet stacking unit, and is referred to when generating a sheet image and the like to be described later. The stacking status includes the presence / absence of sheets in the sheet stacking part (including changes in the part on which the sheets are stacked), the outer shape / size of the sheet, and the transition of the sheet stacking height. Hereinafter, a group of two or more sheets may be referred to as a “sheet bundle”. The stacking status information 133 includes information indicating the shape and size of a sheet or sheet bundle necessary for generating a sheet image to be described later. This information is updated in real time at the detection timing of the loading status detected by the detection means described later. The contents of the loading status information 133 will be described later in detail with reference to FIG.

FIG. 2 is an exemplary view of a monitor screen displayed on the display unit 113 of the information processing terminal 100 when an image forming job is processed in the image forming apparatus 101.
The display content of the monitor screen 200 is generated by the control unit 111 based on the device display information 132 received from the image forming apparatus 101. Alternatively, the control unit 121 of the image forming apparatus 101 may generate it. A display area 201 such as an image is formed on the monitor screen 200. The display area 201 is a display area for visually displaying the loading status. The display area 201 includes a first layer and a second layer. On the first layer, an entire image to be described later is displayed. The second layer is a layer that displays an image representing a sheet stacked on the first layer in a superimposed manner, and displays a sheet image, which will be described later, in a mapped manner. In the example of FIG. 2, a state in which sheets are stacked on the paper discharge tray is shown.

  A job list display area 210 is also formed on the monitor screen 200. The job list display area 210 displays a list of all image forming jobs that can be grasped by the information processing terminal 100. Such a list is called a display job list. The display job list is generated based on the contents of the job list 131 received from the image forming apparatus 101. In this example, some job attributes (job ID, job name, number of pages, number of copies, used paper, paper discharge destination) included in each image forming job are displayed in the display job list.

The image forming jobs displayed in the display job list can be narrowed down by the operator inputting a character string through the search window 211. That is, if no character string is entered in the search window 211, all image forming jobs are displayed, but only an image forming job for which an image forming job that matches the character string is specified is highlighted (inverted display). )
In the example of FIG. 2, the image forming job (image forming job # 3) with the job ID “00000003” is selected and designated. When the number of jobs recorded in the job list 131 is larger than the number of jobs that can be displayed at one time in the job list display area 210, the scroll bar 211 is used. The operator can display and select an arbitrary image forming job by operating the scroll bar 211.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the contents of the loading status information 133. The loading status information 133 is updated in real time at the detection timing of the loading status change. The stacking status information 133 has a list-type data structure, and tray information indicating the stacking status of each discharge tray is arranged in a list (tray information # 1 to tray information #N in the figure). Tray information is created for the number of usable paper discharge trays. For example, in the case of the tray configuration shown in FIG. 2, eight pieces of tray information are included in the list. Each tray information is composed of a structure data type, and has a total stack count and a sheet bundle information list as member variables. A sheet bundle refers to a group of one or more sheets. “Total stacked sheet count” is a variable for counting the total number of sheets stacked on the paper discharge tray. The “sheet bundle information list” has a list-type data structure, and sheet bundle information for managing information on each sheet bundle is arranged in a list in the stacking order (sheet bundle information # 1 to sheet bundle information #N in the drawing). ). When no sheets are stacked on the paper discharge tray, the sheet bundle information list is an empty list.

  Each sheet bundle information is composed of a structure data type and has a job ID, status, head sheet position, and sheet number count as member variables. “Job ID” is a variable representing an ID of an image forming job corresponding to the sheet bundle. Each image forming job is assigned a unique ID by the image forming apparatus 101, and the ID is recorded in this member variable. “Status” is status information indicating a job state, and has a value indicating one of four states of “processed”, “processing”, “waiting for processing”, and “waiting”. For example, “processed” represents a processed image forming job, “processing” represents an image forming job being processed, “waiting for processing” represents an image forming job waiting for processing, and “standby” represents an image forming job waiting. . The “first sheet position” is a variable indicating how many sheets the first sheet of the sheet bundle counts from the first sheet stacked on the discharge tray. “Sheet count” is a variable for counting the total number of sheets in the sheet bundle.

  FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram showing an example of the contents of the job list 131. The job list 131 is updated sequentially. The job list 131 has a list-type data structure, and job information indicating configuration information of each image forming job is arranged in a list (job information 1 to job information M in the figure). This job information is created for the number of image forming jobs for which image formation has been performed. Each job information is composed of a structure data type, and has a job ID, job name, processing date, status, number of pages, number of copies, used paper, paper discharge destination information, and collected information as member variables.

“Job ID” is a variable representing a unique ID assigned by the image forming apparatus 101. “Job name” is a character string representing the name of a job included in the image forming job. “Processing date and time” is a variable representing the date and time when the image forming process is performed on the sheet according to the image forming job. “Status” is a variable representing the state of the image forming job associated with the job ID. The status is linked to the loading status information 133, and each status is referred to and updated as appropriate. “Number of pages” is a variable representing the number of image forming surfaces of a sheet discharged by an image forming job. “Number of copies” is a variable representing the number of sheets discharged by the image forming job. “Used paper” is a variable representing paper information of a sheet discharged by an image forming job. “Discharge destination information” is a variable representing the state of the discharge destination (arrangement apparatus and tray) of a sheet discharged by the image forming job. “Recovered information” is a variable that indicates the state of the paper discharge destination when the sheet bundle is collected from the paper discharge destination of the sheets discharged by the image forming job.

Next, the operation of the image forming system will be described. FIG. 5 is a control flow showing an operation when an image forming job received by the image forming apparatus 101 is processed. This control flow is executed by the control unit 121.
Upon receiving an image forming job (job input), the control unit 121 adds it to the job list 131 and updates the statuses of the job list 131 and the stacking status information 133 to “waiting for processing” (S101). Thereafter, according to the received image forming job, images are formed sheet by sheet according to the page order. When the sheet is discharged to the paper discharge tray designated by the image forming job (S102), the control unit 121 updates the statuses of the job list 131 and the stacking status information 133 to “processing”. Also, the updated loading status information 133 is transmitted to the information processing terminal 100 (S103). The control unit 121 determines whether or not the image formation of all sheets included in the image forming job has been completed (S104). If there is a sheet for which image formation has not been completed (S104: N), the process returns to S102. When image formation has been completed for all sheets (S104: Y), the control unit 121 updates the information of the image formation job in the job list 131 and sets the statuses of the job list 131 and the stacking status information 133 to “processed”. (S105). Thereafter, the control unit 121 updates the paper discharge destination information of the image forming job in which the image formation illustrated in FIG. 5 is completed (S106). The control unit 121 also transmits the updated job list 131 to the information processing terminal 100 (S107), and ends a series of processes.

  FIG. 6 is a control flow for updating the paper discharge destination information in S106. When acquiring the job ID of the image forming job (S201), the control unit 121 assigns 1 to a variable N representing the order of the image forming job (S202). Further, the loading status information 133 is searched using the acquired job ID (S203). Thereafter, the control unit 121 determines whether or not the corresponding job ID exists in the tray information N (S204). When the job ID exists (S204: Y), the control unit 121 adds tray information to the paper discharge destination information of the image forming job with the job ID acquired in S201 in the job list 131 (S205), and proceeds to S206. move on. On the other hand, if the job ID does not exist in S204 (S204: N), the control unit 121 immediately proceeds to S206. In S206, the control unit 121 determines whether or not a search has been performed for all tray information of the stacking status information. When there is tray information that has not been searched (S206: N), the control unit 121 adds 1 to the variable N (S207), and returns to S204. When all the tray information has been searched (S206: Y), the control unit 121 ends the series of processes.

  The operator can check the stacking status of the paper discharge device connected to the image forming apparatus 101 at any time by an application operating on the information processing terminal 100. FIG. 7 is a control flow of the control unit 111 performed when an application is activated on the information processing terminal 100. The control unit 111 starts a communication connection with the image forming apparatus 101 (S301). Then, an acquisition request for the apparatus display information 132 is transmitted to the image forming apparatus 101 (S302). When the image forming apparatus 101 receives the acquisition request for the apparatus display information 132, the image forming apparatus 101 transmits the apparatus display information 132 corresponding to the current configuration of the paper discharge apparatus to the information processing terminal 100. The control unit 111 records the apparatus display information 132 transmitted from the image forming apparatus 101 in the storage unit 112 (S303).

The control unit 111 also transmits an acquisition request for the job list 131 to the image forming apparatus 101 (S304). Upon receiving the job list 131 acquisition request, the image forming apparatus 101 transmits the current job list 131 to the information processing terminal 100.
Upon receiving the job list 131 transmitted from the image forming apparatus 101, the control unit 111 creates a display job list from the job list 131 (S306). The procedure for creating the display job list will be described later in detail with reference to FIG. Based on the recorded device display information 132 and the received job list 131, the control unit 111 displays a monitor screen as shown in FIG. 2 on the display unit 113 (S307), and ends a series of processing.

  FIG. 8 is a control flow of the control unit 111 performed when creating the display job list in S306. The control unit 111 creates a display job list by duplicating the received job list 131 (S401). Thereafter, the control unit 111 assigns 1 to a variable M representing the order of job information (S402). Further, the job information M is searched from the job list 131 (S403). Then, it is determined whether or not the retrieved job information M includes collected information indicating that the sheet has been collected (S404).

  When there is collected information (S404: Y), the control unit 111 compares the paper discharge destination information in the job list 131 with the collected information (S405), and determines whether or not the same tray name is included (S406). ). When the same tray name is included (S406: Y), the control unit 111 deletes the same tray name from the paper discharge destination information of the display job list using the comparison result of S405 (S407), and proceeds to S408. If the same tray name is not included (S406: N), the process immediately proceeds to S408. If it is determined in S404 that the collected information is not included (S404: N), the process proceeds to S408. In step S <b> 408, the control unit 111 determines whether all jobs in the job list 131 have been searched. If there is a job that has not been searched (S408: N), the control unit 111 adds 1 to the variable M (409), and returns to S403. When all the jobs have been searched (S408: Y), the control unit 111 ends the series of processes.

FIG. 9 is a control flow performed by the control unit 121 of the image forming apparatus 101 when the removal of the image-formed sheet is detected from the paper discharge tray.
When detecting that the image-formed sheet is removed from the eject tray 402 (S501), the control unit 121 specifies tray information corresponding to the detected paper discharge tray in the stacking status information 133 (S502). Then, all job IDs are extracted from the specified tray information (S503). Thereafter, the retrieved job ID is searched, and the collected information of the job information of the corresponding job ID is updated (504). At this time, the collected tray name is added to the collected information. Thereafter, the control unit 121 empties the tray information from which the image-formed sheets are removed from the stacking status information 133 (S505). “Empty tray information” means that the total stack count in the tray information of FIG. 3 is set to 0, and the sheet bundle information list is set to an empty list.
The control unit 121 transmits the job list 131 and the loading status information 133 updated in S505 to the information processing terminal 100 (S506), and ends a series of processing.

FIG. 10 is a control flow of the control unit 111 that is performed when an image forming job having a predetermined keyword is extracted from the job list 131 and a display job list for display in the job list display area 210 is created.
The control unit 111 determines whether a search expression for searching the job list 131 is input by an operation from the input unit 114 by an operator, for example (S601). The search expression is a conditional expression for keyword search of, for example, job information and job attributes included in the job information. When the search expression is not input (S601: N), the control unit 111 immediately ends the process (does not perform the process).
When a search expression is input (S601: Y), the control unit 111 duplicates the job list 131 and creates a display job list (S602). Thereafter, the control unit 111 assigns 1 to a variable M representing the order of job information (S603). Further, the job information M is extracted from the copied display job list, and the job information M is searched using a search formula (S604). In the search, the job ID 131, job name, processing date / time, status, number of pages, number of copies, used paper, paper discharge destination information, collected information and the search formula input in S601 are the items of the job list 131 shown in FIG. Compare with included keywords.

  The control unit 111 determines whether or not the extracted job information M includes the keyword input in S601 (S605). When the keyword is not included (S605: Y), the control unit 111 deletes the job information M from the display job list, updates the display job list (S606), and proceeds to S607. If a keyword is included (S605: Y), the process proceeds to S607 as it is. The control unit 111 determines whether or not a search has been performed for all job information in the display job list (S607). When all the job information has been searched (S607: Y), the series of processing ends. If there is job information that has not been searched (S607: N), the control unit 111 adds 1 to the variable M (S608), and returns to S604.

  FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram showing a display job list including image forming jobs extracted by the search. By executing the control flow of FIG. 10, the schematic diagram (a) representing the state of the display job list before the search is updated to the content of the schematic diagram (b) after the search. For example, it is assumed that a character string “law office A” is input to the search window 211. In this case, the job IDs “00000002” and “00000004” of the image forming job 1102 associated with the name that matches the corresponding character string (that is, part or all of the character string matches) are selected and displayed. It becomes possible. Note that the corresponding image forming job may be gradually deleted each time the character string is increased.

  FIG. 12 is a control flow for displaying a sheet bundle corresponding to the image forming job extracted by the search. This control flow is executed by the control unit 111 of the information processing terminal 100. First, the control unit 111 clears the drawn sheet display (S701). Specifically, the sheet image drawn on the second layer of the display area 201 is deleted.

  When the sheet display is cleared, the control unit 111 substitutes 1 for a variable N indicating the order of the tray (S702), and determines whether sheets are stacked on the tray N in the received stacking status information 133 (S703). ). When the total number of stacked sheets in the tray information N is 0, it means that no sheets are stacked. When sheets are not stacked (S703: N), the process proceeds to S714. When sheets are stacked (S703: Y), the control unit 111 calculates the height of the sheets stacked on the tray N (S704). Here, when the entire sheet stacked on the tray N is drawn, how many pixels the height is calculated is calculated. The height of the sheet is calculated by multiplying the total number of stacked sheets of the tray information N by a predetermined coefficient P. This coefficient P is a coefficient representing how many pixels the height of one sheet corresponds to. As a result of the calculation, when the sheet height includes a decimal value, rounding up is performed to an integer value.

  Next, the control unit 111 draws a sheet image representing the entire sheet stacked on the tray N in the first display color (S705). As a result, the sheet image can be displayed in the first display color in the display area 201 of the monitor screen 200. Next, the control unit 111 determines whether an image forming job is selected in the job list display area 210 (S706). If not selected (S706: N), the process proceeds to S704. If it is selected (S706: Y), the control unit 111 assigns 1 to a variable M representing the order of the sheet bundle information (S707). After this processing, the sheet bundle information M represents the Mth sheet bundle information in the sheet bundle information list of the tray information N of the received stacking status information.

  Next, the control unit 111 determines whether the job ID of the sheet bundle information M is the same as the job ID of the image forming job selected in the job list display area 210 (S708). If the job IDs are not the same (S708: N), the process proceeds to S712. When the job IDs are the same (S708: Y), the control unit 111 calculates the drawing start position height of the sheet bundle information M (that is, the sheet bundle of the selected image forming job) (S709). The drawing start position height is calculated by multiplying the sheet start position of the sheet bundle information M by the coefficient P described above. As a result of the calculation, when the drawing start position height includes a decimal value, it is rounded down to an integer value.

  Next, the control unit 111 calculates the height of the sheet bundle of the sheet bundle information M (S710). Here, when the sheet bundle of the sheet bundle information M is displayed on the display unit 113 (for that purpose, an image is drawn), how many pixels the height is calculated is calculated. The height of the sheet bundle is calculated by multiplying the sheet count of the sheet bundle M by the coefficient P described above. As a result of the calculation, when the height of the sheet bundle includes a decimal value, rounding up is performed to an integer value. Thereafter, the control unit 111 renders an image representing the sheet bundle of the sheet bundle information M in a second display color for distinguishing from the first display color (S711). As a result, the sheet image representing the selected image forming job can be displayed in the display area 201 of the monitor screen 200 in a display mode different from the first display color.

The control unit 111 determines whether all sheet bundle information has been confirmed in the sheet bundle information list of the tray information N (S712). When all the sheet bundle information has been confirmed (S712: Y), the process proceeds to S714. If there is sheet bundle information that has not been confirmed (S712: N), the control unit 111 adds 1 to the variable M (S713), and returns to S708.
The control unit 111 determines whether all tray information has been displayed in the received stacking status information (S714). When all the tray information has been displayed (S714: Y), the series of processes is terminated. When there is tray information that has not been displayed (S714: N), the control unit 111 adds 1 to the variable N (S715), and returns to S703.

  FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram showing a state in which an image forming job extracted by keyword search is displayed on the monitor screen. By executing the control flow of FIG. 10, the image forming job shown in FIG. 11 is extracted by keyword search. Then, by executing the control flow of FIG. 12, the image forming job corresponding to the image forming job extracted in the control flow of FIG. 10 can be displayed on the monitor screen 200 with the display color changed.

For example, an image forming job 1301 with a job ID “00000002” is displayed as an image forming job 1302 on the monitor screen 200. An image forming job 1303 with a job ID “00000004” is displayed as an image forming job 1304 on the monitor screen, and can be displayed in different display colors.
As described above, with the image forming system of the present embodiment, it is possible to easily specify the sheet stacking portion corresponding to a desired image forming job. This makes it possible to reliably collect the sheet. Further, it is possible to easily grasp the stacking condition at the paper discharge destination of the entire apparatus. As a result, it is possible to determine which discharge destination is designated as the discharge destination of an image forming job for forming an image after that, which improves convenience.

[Other Embodiments]
In the present embodiment, the display color is changed according to each image forming job, but this is only an example. For example, the same display color is used in all the image forming jobs corresponding to the keyword search. Also good.
In the present embodiment, the configuration example in which the information processing terminal 100 and the image forming apparatus 101 are separated has been described. However, the image forming apparatus 101 may have the function of the information processing terminal 100. That is, the storage unit 112, the display unit 113, and the input unit 114 may be provided in the image forming apparatus 101. In this case, the function of generating the entire image and the sheet image is realized by the control unit 121.

  The present invention is also realized by executing the following processing. That is, a computer program (terminal management program, image forming program) that realizes the functions of the present embodiment is supplied to a device or a system including the same via a network or various storage media. The computer of the apparatus or system reads and executes the computer program. In this case, the computer program and a recording medium storing the computer program constitute the present invention.

Claims (12)

Image forming means for forming an image on a sheet according to an image forming job;
A sheet stacking unit capable of stacking image formed sheets discharged from the image forming unit for each image forming job;
Storage means for storing first information representing an arrangement mode of the sheet stacking unit with respect to the image forming unit and second information representing a stacking state of the image formed sheets for each image forming job in the sheet stacking unit;
Control means for generating an entire image representing the arrangement mode based on the first information, generating a search window for the second information, and displaying the generated entire image and the search window on a predetermined display means; With
When a character string is input through the search window, the control unit searches the second information for an image forming job that matches the character string, and displays a sheet image representing the stacking status of the searched image forming job. And a display job list including the image forming job, and the generated sheet image and display job list are displayed on the display unit. The display job list includes discharge destination information indicating a discharge destination of an image-formed sheet discharged by the image forming job.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1. When the discharge destination is a plurality of the sheet stacking means,
The control means displays a plurality of the sheet images in the same display mode.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 2.   When the image-formed sheet discharged by another image forming job is also stacked on the discharge destination, the control unit distinguishes and displays the sheet image of each image-formed sheet. Item 3. The image forming apparatus according to Item 2. The display job list includes collected information indicating that the image-formed sheet discharged by the image forming job is collected from the paper discharge destination,
5. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit deletes the sheet image of the collected image-formed sheet from the display unit. 6. The display job list includes status information indicating a job state indicating whether the image forming job is being processed, processed, or otherwise,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit changes a display mode of the image forming job according to the job state. The content of the second information changes at the detection timing of the change of the processing status of the image forming job and the loading status,
The control means updates the sheet image and the display job list at a timing when the content of the second information changes.
The image forming apparatus according to claim 1.   When the character string is not input, the control unit generates a sheet image representing each of the stacking states for all of the image forming jobs, and the generated sheet images for the searched image forming job. The image forming apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the display unit displays the image in a display mode different from that of the sheet image. The control means displays each of the sheet images for all image forming jobs in a first display color, and then sets the portion of the sheet image for the searched image forming job as the first display color. It is characterized by changing to a different second display color,
The image forming apparatus according to claim 8. Job input means for inputting an image forming job, image forming means for forming an image on a sheet according to the input image forming job, and an image-formed sheet discharged from the image forming means for each image forming job can be stacked. Communication means for communicating with an image forming apparatus to which a sheet stacking means is connected;
First information representing an arrangement mode of the sheet stacking unit with respect to the image forming unit and second information representing a stacking state of the image formed sheets for each image forming job in the sheet stacking unit are acquired from the image forming unit. Storage means for storing the acquired information;
Control means for generating an entire image representing the arrangement mode based on the first information, generating a search window for the second information, and displaying the generated entire image and the search window on a predetermined display means; With
When a character string is input through the search window, the control unit searches the second information for an image forming job that matches the character string, and displays a sheet image representing the stacking status of the searched image forming job. And a display job list including the image forming job, and the generated sheet image and display job list are displayed on the display means. An image comprising an image forming unit connected to a display unit and forming an image on a sheet according to an image forming job; and a sheet stacking unit capable of stacking image formed sheets discharged from the image forming unit for each image forming job. A computer program for operating a computer incorporated in a forming apparatus as a control device of the image forming apparatus,
The computer,
Storage means for storing first information representing an arrangement mode of the sheet stacking unit with respect to the image forming unit, and second information representing a stacking state of the image formed sheets for each image forming job in the sheet stacking unit;
Control means for generating an entire image representing the arrangement mode based on the first information, generating a search window for the second information, and displaying the generated entire image and the search window on a predetermined display means Make it work
When a character string is input through the search window, the control unit searches the second information for an image forming job that matches the character string, and displays a sheet image representing the stacking status of the searched image forming job. And a display job list including the image forming job, and the generated sheet image and display job list are displayed on the display means. An image comprising an image forming unit connected to a display unit and forming an image on a sheet according to an image forming job; and a sheet stacking unit capable of stacking image formed sheets discharged from the image forming unit for each image forming job. A computer capable of communicating with the forming device,
First information representing an arrangement mode of the sheet stacking unit with respect to the image forming unit and second information representing a stacking state of the image formed sheets for each image forming job in the sheet stacking unit are acquired from the image forming unit. Storage means for storing the acquired information,
Control means for generating an entire image representing the arrangement mode based on the first information, generating a search window for the second information, and displaying the generated entire image and the search window on a predetermined display means Make it work
When a character string is input through the search window, the control unit searches the second information for an image forming job that matches the character string, and displays a sheet image representing the stacking status of the searched image forming job. And a display job list including the image forming job, and the generated sheet image and display job list are displayed on the display means.