JP2619570B2 - Print processing system - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method for coping with a paper jam in a printing apparatus using cut sheets.

In recent years, as a computer system,
In many cases, various input / output devices are placed on the same floor or in each business unit in the same building, a centralized management system for operation and maintenance at the center is established, and it is placed in remote subsystems and in each department. Cases are increasing, and unmanned operation of subsystems of various input / output devices is progressing. Various input / output devices are now equipped with a function for automatically detecting an abnormality, a function for automatically diagnosing and recovering from the abnormality, and the like. For this reason, operators tend to monitor message information that appears on the console and indicate the operation status of the system, and to execute a plurality of batch jobs in parallel in the center. Most of the users tend to make a CE call to the maintenance department when a failure occurs, instead of always assigning a dedicated maintenance worker.

There is a problem, for example, when a hardware failure occurs. The operator in charge leaves the central control room every time such a trouble occurs,
You must immediately go to the place where the failure occurred, check the situation, and take other measures. Such a situation deteriorates the operation efficiency of the computer center, and it is important to reduce it as much as possible. By doing so,
Labor saving of personnel and unmanned operation of the system can be promoted.

[0004] By controlling a variety of input / output devices in terms of hardware and software in response to a remote instruction from the center, among various types of faults that require manual operation,
Some may be able to recover automatically. For example, there are paper jams and stack mistakes that frequently occur in the printing equipment system. For these, the recovery process from the console (at the center) can be remotely instructed, etc., and can be automatically recovered by appropriate control. Thus, the system operation efficiency is significantly improved.

[0005]

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, when a paper jam has occurred in a printing apparatus using cut sheets, the printing apparatus displays the location where the paper jam occurred on a display panel of the printing apparatus. The operator reads the status information displayed on the display panel and manually removes all print paper remaining inside the printing apparatus. Then, after visually confirming by the operator that there is no print paper remaining in the printing apparatus, printing is resumed. The printing paper removed from the printing apparatus is stained due to paper breakage and toner adhesion. Therefore, the printing paper is discarded or used as memo paper.

As is well known, paper jams are detected by sensors. FIG. 5 shows monitoring of the transport status of the printing paper by the sensors 26-1 to 26-3. As shown in FIG. 5A, the sensors 26-1 to 26-3 are installed at appropriate positions in consideration of the width of the printing paper passing on the transport path. Each of the sensors 26-1 to 26-3 monitors the transport status of the printing paper 27-1 and 27-2 passing on the transport path. The printing paper 27-1 and 27-2 are conveyed from right to left in the figure.

FIG. 5B shows the sensors 26-1 to 26-.
3 shows a timing chart of a signal detected. In FIG. 5B, the state detected by the sensor 26-1 is detected by a signal 28-1, the state detected by the sensor 26-2 is detected by a signal 28-2, and the sensor 26-3 detects the state. The state is indicated by signal 28-3. Sensors 26-1
Signals 28-1 to 28 indicating the state detected by 26-3
-3 is turned on when the printing paper comes, is kept on while the printing paper is passing, and returns to off when the printing paper has passed.

The letter A in FIG. 5B indicates the signals of the sensors 26-1 to 26-3 in the state of FIG. The signal of the sensor 26-1 recognizes the printing paper 27-2 and is in the ON state. The signal of the sensor 26-2 does not recognize the printing paper, and is in an off state. The signal from the sensor 26-3 recognizes the printing paper 27-1 and is in the ON state.

Reference numerals T1 to T3 denote printing paper 27-.
1 represents the time required to pass. Symbol T1
Indicates the position where the sensor 26-1 is installed on the printing paper 27-.
1, the time required for the printing paper 27-1 to pass the position where the sensor 26-2 is installed, and the symbol T3 is the time required for the printing paper 27-1 to pass.
This is the time required for the printing paper 27-1 to pass through the position where No. 3 is installed.

If the passage time of the printing paper as indicated by the symbols T1 to T3 exceeds a predetermined threshold value set for each width of the printing paper to be conveyed, the sensor 2
Any of 6-1 to 26-3 is turned on and the mechanical firmware recognizes that the threshold has been exceeded, and the printing apparatus determines that a paper jam has occurred. Thus, for printing
In this specification, the condition where the paper passage time exceeds the threshold
Hereinafter, it is referred to as a paper jam.

When a paper jam occurs, the location of the remaining printing paper jammed on the transport path is detected based on a signal from a sensor. That is, the sensor whose signal is on at the time of occurrence of the paper jam is analyzed by hardware and firmware, and then stored in the memory as information of a corresponding portion. Then, by referring to the table shown in Table 1, a flag is set for the location where the residual print paper is located, thereby displaying the location where the residual print paper is located on the display panel of the printing apparatus.

[Table 1]

The printing apparatus stops its operation when the location of the remaining printing paper is displayed, and waits for a recovery operation by an operator or the like.

[0013]

As described above, when a paper jam occurs, there is a problem that the operation efficiency and the operation rate of the printing apparatus are deteriorated, and the system operation requires labor for recovery work. Was. Furthermore, inside the recent printing apparatus, the mechanical mechanism of the printing apparatus has become more complicated, and the mechanism has been designed in consideration of the operability in maintenance work. There are many cases that cannot be easily dealt with in normal operation. In addition, in consideration of the stability and maintainability of the printing apparatus, it is difficult for the operator to handle mechanical mechanisms such as various levers in the mechanical mechanism of the printing apparatus.
It is necessary to reduce as much as possible. For these reasons, the number of occasions to call for specialized CE has increased recently.

The present invention has been made in consideration of the above-described problems in the related art, and in a case where a paper jam occurs, a series of processes from removing a residual print sheet jammed on a conveyance path in a printing apparatus to restarting printing. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a print processing system that automatically and reasonably performs the above.

[0015]

According to the invention, the above-mentioned object is achieved by the means described in the claims.

That is, according to a first aspect of the present invention, in a system including a host for controlling a printing apparatus and at least one printing apparatus, means for collecting printer information of the printing apparatus in the host, and the collected printer information Means for analyzing the information, and opening and closing a gate for discharging the remaining printing paper on the transport path to the printing apparatus when the content of the printer information is to notify a paper jam of the printing paper. Means for issuing a command for instructing the printing apparatus, a sensor for monitoring the conveyance status of the printing paper, a gate for discharging the remaining printing paper when a paper jam occurs, and a paper by the sensor. Means for editing printer information when a clog is detected and reporting the printer information to the host upon receipt of a sense command from the host; , When an instruction for opening and closing the gates of the inner appropriate position of said gate is performed, analyzed by mechanical farm and the mechanical logic of the printing device a command for gating to drive the gate of the corresponding gate mechanism. And a print processing system provided with the means.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in a case where the residual printing paper is removed when a paper jam occurs, the residual printing paper that has not been printed and the residual printing paper that has already been printed are distinguished from each other. 2. The print processing system according to claim 1, further comprising means for storing the print data.

Further, the invention according to claim 3 is a means for issuing a command for instructing test printing to a printing apparatus before starting reprinting after removing residual printing paper when a paper jam occurs. Means for performing a test print by providing a test print mechanism to the printing apparatus when the host instructs the print apparatus to perform the test print, a test print sheet on which the test print is performed, and an unprinted residual print sheet 3. The print processing system according to claim 2, further comprising: means for storing the remaining printing paper printed by the latter means, and means for storing the remaining printing paper printed by the latter means.

[0019]

FIG. 1 shows an example of the configuration of a printing apparatus using the method according to the present invention. In FIG. 1, a hopper (HOPP)
ER) 1, the printing paper stored on the transfer mechanism 1 is sucked one by one by the pickup rollers 7-1 and 7-2.
0, Stacker 3 via fixing mechanism 11
Sent to The sensors 4-1 to 4-1
-8 is installed, and when a paper jam occurs, the gate 5 is controlled by means for controlling the gates 5-1 to 5-5.
Opening / closing of 1-5 to 1-5 can automatically remove the remaining printing papers 9-1-9-5.

At this time, the residual printing paper is classified into two types. That is, the residual printing paper 9 before passing through the photosensitive drum 6
-1 and 9-2 are stored in the lost paper box 2-1 and the remaining printing papers 9-3 to 9- after passing through the photosensitive drum 6.
5 is stored in the lost paper box 2-2.

The completion of the removal of the residual printing paper 9-1 to 9-5 is confirmed by sensor information from the sensors 4-1 to 4-8. After the confirmation is completed, test printing is performed before printing is restarted. Using the test data prepared in the memory of the printing device 13, printing processing is performed using the data for the purpose of checking whether there is any abnormality in the printing process such as the transport path. Then, after the test printing is performed normally, the printing including the recovery processing is restarted. The printing paper 8-4 used for the test printing is connected to the gate 5-
5 is finally stored in the lost paper box 2-2 in the same manner as the residual printing paper 9-5.

[0022]

FIG. 2 shows an example of a flowchart of a method for dealing with a paper jam according to the present invention. FIG. 3 shows a functional block configuration of the host 12 and the printing apparatus 13 according to the present invention. An example in each of steps S1 to S10 will be described below in detail with reference to the functional block configuration shown in FIG. 3 based on the flowchart shown in FIG.

First, in S1, the host 12 issues a print instruction to the printing device 13. The printing device 13 receives the print command and starts printing. When printing is started, the processing of the host 12 shifts to another processing. If a paper jam occurs in the printing device 13 during printing, the printing device 13 causes an interrupt to the host 12 to generate an error, and reports that an error has occurred in the printing device 13.

Next, in S2, the host 12 determines whether or not to accept an interruption of the occurrence of the abnormality from the printing apparatus 13 which has issued the print instruction. After receiving the signal, the host 12 issues a sense command 14 to the printing device 13 in S3. The host 12 makes an inquiry about the state of the printing apparatus 13 using the sense command 14. Printing device 1
3 responds to the inquiry by sending the printer information 21, and the host 12 analyzes the printer information 21 from the printing device 13.

Subsequently, in S4, when the printer information 21 from the printing device 13 is analyzed and it is detected that a paper jam has occurred in the printing device 13, the host 12
Start a series of paper jam recovery processing. If it is not a paper jam, another processing is performed.

Then, in S5, the host 12, which has detected the paper jam, first calculates the number of remaining print sheets remaining on the transport path. The host 12 obtains, from the printer information 21 analyzed in S4, the number of printing papers sucked and the number of printing papers printed and dropped on the stacker 3. 18 is stored. By subtracting the contents of the pickup counter 17 from the contents of the stacker counter 18, the number of remaining print sheets can be obtained.

Next, in step S6, the mechanical firm 19
Examines the sensor information 20. The mechanical firm 19
Can identify the sensors 4-1 to 4-8 that are checking the printing papers 8-1 to 8-4 from the sensor information 20, and further describe the installation locations of the sensors 4-1 to 4-8. By referring to the table 22, it is possible to know where the printing papers 8-1 to 8-4 remain. The mechanical firmware unit 19 refers to the table 22 and refers to the remaining print paper 9-1.
フ ラ グ 9-5 sets a flag for a certain location. The information in this table 22 can be used as failure statistical data such as a paper jam.

Subsequently, in S7, the host 12 issues a gate control command 15 to the printing device 13 in order to instruct removal of the remaining printing paper 9-1 to 9-5. The mechanical firmware unit 19 of the printing apparatus 13 receives the gate control instruction 15
In response, the gate control circuit 23 is operated. By the operation of the gate control circuit 23, each gate 5 of the printing apparatus 13
Open and close 1-5-5 . When opening and closing gates 5-1 to 5-5
In the open state, as shown in FIG.
The gap is wider than the state in which the normal printing paper is conveyed, and the printing papers 8-1 to 8-4 remaining on the conveyance path are conveyed to the conveyance path.
And the remaining print paper 9-1 to 9-5 are guided to the lost paper boxes 2-1 and 2-2.
As shown in FIG. 1, the gates 5-1 and 5-2 located closer to the hopper 1 than the photosensitive drum 6 are connected to the residual printing paper 9-1 and 5-1.
As 9-2, it leads to the lost paper box 2-1.
On the other hand, the gates 5-3 to 5-5 located closer to the stacker 3 than the photosensitive drum 6 guide the remaining printing paper 9-3 to 9-5 to the lost paper box 2-2. If the printing paper 8-4 near the exit to the stacker 3 cannot be led to the lost paper box 2-2 due to the opening and closing of the gate 5-5 due to the configuration of the printing device 13, the remaining printing paper 9 After pressing a stamp for recognition as -5, the stacking position is shifted to the stacker 3 as the residual printing paper 9-5 so as to be recognized so as to be recognized.

Subsequently, in S8, the mechanical firmware 1
9 shows the sensor information 2 after the operation of the gate control circuit 23 is completed.
Watch 0. If the mechanical firmware unit 19 cannot find any of the print papers 8-1 to 8-4 remaining on the transport path from the sensor information 20, the gate control command 15 notifies the host 12 of the normal end. As a result, when the host 12 collects and analyzes the printer information 21 of the printing apparatus 13 according to the sense command 14 and detects that it is not in a paper jam state, the residual print paper 9-1 to 9-5 is removed. Know that.

Subsequently, reprinting in S10 may be started, but in the present invention, as a preceding stage of reprinting, test printing in S9 is performed to check the printing process including the transport mechanism of the printing device 13. Having. In S9, when the host 12 knows that the remaining print papers 9-1 to 9-5 have been removed, the host 12 sends a test print instruction 1 to the printing apparatus 13.
Issue 6.

The mechanical firmware section 19 of the printing apparatus 13 receives the test print command 16 and operates the test print control circuit 24. The test print control circuit 24 prints test data prepared in advance and confirms that there is no abnormality in the printing process including the transport mechanism of the printing device 13. When the test print processing is completed, the mechanical firmware unit 19 notifies the host 12 of the result of the test print. The host 1
For example, some damage levels may be set as the contents of notification to 2, and the number of the level may be analyzed on the host 12 side, and then the subsequent processing may be performed in detail. Depending on the number of the damage level, it is possible to display on the console display of the center that an artificial operation is required.

After the paper jam recovery process is completed, in S10, the host 12 sends the printer information 21
After the retransmission print point is determined from the contents of the pickup counter 17 and the stacker counter 18 obtained by analyzing the data, a reprint instruction is issued to the printing apparatus 13 from the print point. Upon receiving the reprint instruction, the printing device 13 restarts the printing process.

Finally, a method of processing a sheet used for test printing will be described. FIG. 4 shows a method of processing the printing paper 25-1 and 25-2 at the time of test printing and reprinting. The printing paper 25-1 and 25-2 sent out by the pickup rollers 7-3 and 7-4 are supplied to the gate 5-
By opening and closing 5, they are separately sorted. Gate 5-5
Is controlled by the sensor 4-8 located at the last stage detecting the sheet 25-2 of the test print. The paper 25-2 on which the test data has been printed is discharged to the lost paper box 2-2 through the path indicated by the alphabetical letter J by closing the gate 5-5. On the other hand, the reprinted sheet 25-1 falls on the stacker 3 along the path indicated by the alphabetical letter I by opening the gate 5-5.

[0034]

As described above, according to the present invention,
The paper jam recovery process can be automatically performed without requiring human intervention. Further, since test printing is performed before reprinting is started, the reliability is extremely high. Furthermore, unlike the case where the printing paper stored in the lost paper box 2-1 is manually removed, wrinkles, folds,
There is an advantage that it is very rational and economical because dirt and the like are hardly attached and can be reused.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a configuration example of a printing apparatus using a method according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an example of handling a paper jam.

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an example of a functional block configuration related to paper jam handling.

FIG. 4 is a diagram illustrating a method of processing a test print sheet.

FIG. 5 is a diagram for describing monitoring of a printing paper conveyance state.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Hopper 2-1 and 2-2 Lost paper box 3 Stacker 4-1 to 4-8 Sensor 5-1 to 5-5 Gate 6 Photosensitive drum 7-1 to 7-4 Pickup roller 8-1 to 8- 4 Printing Paper 9-1 to 9-5 Residual Printing Paper 10 Transfer Mechanism 11 Fixing Mechanism 12 Host 13 Printing Device 14 Sense Command 15 Gate Control Command 16 Test Print Command 17 Pickup Counter 18 Stacker Counter 19 Mechanical Farm Unit 20 Sensor Information 21 Printer Information 22 Table 23 Gate control circuit 24 Test print control circuit 25-1 Reprinted paper 25-2 Test printed paper 26-1 to 26-3 Sensor 27-1, 27-2 Printing paper detected by sensor 28-1 to 28-3 Signal from Sensor

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continuation of the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification number Agency reference number FI Technical display location G03G 21/00 500 G03G 21/00 500

Claims (3)

(57) [Claims] In a system comprising a host for controlling a printing apparatus and at least one printing apparatus, the host includes means for collecting printer information of the printing apparatus, means for analyzing the collected printer information, Means for issuing a command for instructing the printing apparatus to open and close a gate for discharging the remaining printing paper on the conveyance path when the printer information content is to notify a paper jam of the printing paper. And a printing device, a sensor for monitoring the state of conveyance of the printing paper, a gate for discharging the remaining printing paper when a paper jam occurs, and a printer when a paper jam is detected by the sensor. Means for editing the information and reporting the printer information to the host upon receipt of the sense command from the host, and analyzing the data, and And a means for driving a corresponding gate mechanism to open and close the gate when an instruction is given to open or close the gate at a corresponding location in the gate. 2. A printer according to claim 1, further comprising means for distinguishing the unprinted residual print paper from the already printed residual print paper and separately storing the residual print paper when the residual print paper is eliminated when a paper jam occurs. The print processing system according to claim 1. 3. A host for providing a command for issuing a command for instructing test printing to a printing apparatus prior to starting reprinting after removing residual printing paper when a paper jam occurs, and Means for driving a test printing mechanism when a test print is instructed by the host, performing a test print, storing the test print paper on which the test print has been performed, and storing unprinted residual print paper, 3. The print processing system according to claim 2, further comprising means for storing the remaining printing paper that has been printed by the latter means, among the means for storing the printed remaining printing paper.