JP3261790B2 - Data processing device - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a data processing apparatus capable of confirming a file type during continuous printing.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A data processing apparatus such as a facsimile machine or a printer has a storage means for storing image information of a plurality of files and a printer means for printing out the image information read from the storage means. .

Some conventional data processing apparatuses of this type have a function of displaying the total number or the remaining number as information of a file currently being printed. However, this apparatus has a problem that the print content output from the printer cannot be confirmed.

[0004] In view of this problem, the following techniques have been proposed. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 58-77956 proposes a technique for instructing printing by confirming an image to be printed on a large display device. Also, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2-114763,
There has been proposed a technique of displaying a part of image information on an LCD display unit, confirming the content of the image information, and instructing printing.

[0005] According to the above-mentioned prior art, the print content output from the printer means can be confirmed in advance.

[0006]

However, in the above-mentioned prior art, there is a problem that the type of a file being continuously printed cannot be easily and quickly confirmed by the printer means. . In other words, there is a problem that the type of the file being printed cannot be confirmed while printing is continuously performed.

[0007] For this reason, there is a problem that the printing of unnecessary files is stopped and the printing of the next file is skipped, or it is impossible to determine whether the file currently being printed is a file of high urgency. Was.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a data processing apparatus which eliminates the above-mentioned problems of the prior art and can easily and quickly confirm the type of a file which is continuously printed. is there.

Another object is to determine whether or not the file currently being printed is an unnecessary file. If the file is unnecessary, stop the printing. If the file is of low urgency, interrupt it by an interrupt. Another object of the present invention is to provide a data processing device capable of performing other processing first.

[0010]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a storage unit for storing data in a file format, and a unit for printing the data based on a print instruction from a control unit. And a display unit for displaying the contents stored in the file type storage means for storing the type of the file currently being printed.

Further, the invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that it further comprises means for instructing interruption or interruption of printing.

[0012]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the type of the file being printed can be grasped from the contents displayed on the display unit. Therefore, it is possible to easily and quickly confirm the type of the file that is continuously printed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, when an unnecessary file is printed, it can be stopped and the printing of another file can be started. For this reason, the printing time can be shortened, and the paper can be saved. In addition, when a large amount of data is being printed, an emergency process can be performed by interruption, so that a user's wasted time can be reduced and mental annoyance can be eliminated.

[0014]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. FIG. 4 is a block diagram schematically showing a hardware configuration of a facsimile apparatus to which the present invention is applied. The present invention can be applied not only to a facsimile apparatus but also to a printer apparatus, a copying machine, or a multifunction peripheral thereof.

In FIG. 4, reference numeral 1 denotes an image reading unit for reading image information of a document; 2, a control unit for controlling the entire operation of the facsimile apparatus; An operation unit 4 is a communication control unit that performs a call to a partner device, execution of a communication procedure, and the like.

Reference numeral 5 denotes a recording unit for printing out received image information and communication management data (various reports, etc.), 6 a display unit for displaying various messages and the like, 7
A data storage unit for storing data such as image information, speed dial information, and communication management data read or received by the image reading unit 1 in a file format; and 8, printing file information for storing file information during printing It is a storage unit. The operation unit 3 and the display unit 6 are usually provided on a single console panel.

Next, the operation of one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. FIG. 2 shows the operation of the control unit 3.

When the printing operation is started, the operation of step S1 is performed. That is, the control unit 2 reads data from the printing file information storage unit 8 and displays the data on the display unit 6. The display unit 6 displays the type of the file being printed, the total number of files in the file, the number of remaining prints, and the like. For example, file types such as a received document, an electronic copy document, an automatic communication report, and a manual setting list are displayed alone or together with the number of prints.

Here, the electronic copy is for copying a plurality of copies of the image information once read into the data storage unit 7 or for copying after being sorted. The automatic communication report includes, for example, a transmission report, a reception report, and a broadcast report printed every 50 communications, and the manual setting list is, for example, a manually set speed dial list.

In step S2, the file displayed in step S1 is printed. In step S3, a determination is made as to whether the printing of the file has been completed for all pages. If not, the printing of the next page is executed.

If the determination in step S3 is affirmative, the flow advances to step S4 to determine whether or not printing of all files has been completed. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S1, and the display contents of the file type are updated to those to be printed next. Hereinafter, step S4
The operation is continued until the result of the determination is affirmative.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, for each file to be continuously printed, the type is set to the received document,
It is possible to easily and quickly confirm or grasp which of an electronic copy document, an automatic communication report, a manual setting list, and the like.

Next, a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the flowchart of FIG. In step S11,
As in step S1 of the first embodiment, the type of the file currently being printed is displayed.

In step S12, a determination is made as to whether or not an instruction to interrupt printing has been issued by, for example, a stop key of the operation unit 3. In step S13,
It is determined whether or not the interrupt key of the operation unit 3 has been turned on. If the determinations in steps S12 and S13 are both negative, the process proceeds to step S14 to execute printing. When printing of one page is completed, step S
Proceeding to 16, a determination is made as to whether printing of all pages of the file being printed has been completed. If the determination is negative, the process returns to step S12 to continue printing the file.

Next, when the determination in step S12 is affirmative, the printing of the file currently being printed is stopped, and the flow advances to step S17 to determine whether or not printing of all files has been completed. When this determination is negative, that is, when there is a file to be printed next, the process returns to step S11, and the file type is displayed. When steps S12 and S13 are negative and the process proceeds to step S14, printing of this new file is started.

On the other hand, when the determination in step S13 is affirmative, the process proceeds to step S15, where an interrupt process is executed. For example, interruption processing such as a transmission instruction and an electronic copy instruction is performed. If the determination in step S17 is affirmative, the above-described series of processing ends.

As described above, according to the present embodiment, it is possible to determine whether the document currently being printed is unnecessary by the display in step S11. If the document is unnecessary, by interrupting the printing, it is possible to shift to printing of the next file, and the time required for printing can be reduced.
Also, paper can be saved.

Further, for example, while printing a large number of received documents, if an interrupt process such as taking a few electronic copies or giving priority to transmission is performed, the user can receive the received documents. These operations can be performed without waiting for the end of printing. Therefore, the user can use the data processing device without wasting time and without mental annoyance.

Next, a block diagram showing the function of the second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG.

In the figure, reference numeral 11 denotes a print instruction unit for instructing printing, which corresponds to the functions of the operation unit 3 and the control unit 2. Reference numeral 12 denotes a reception information storage unit, 1
Reference numeral 3 denotes an electronic copy information storage unit, 14 denotes a communication report storage unit, and 15 denotes a manual setting information storage unit. These correspond to the data storage unit 7. Reference numeral 16 denotes a printing file information storage unit.

The information instructed to print by the print instructing unit 11 is selected from the storage units 12 to 15,
Output to the printer 17. At this time, the data of the file type stored in the selected storage unit is sent to the printing file information storage unit 16 and displayed on the display unit 18.
The total number of pages or the number of remaining pages for each file may also be sent to the printing file information storage unit 16 and displayed on the display unit 18.

Next, when an interrupt instruction is received from the interrupt instruction unit 19 during printing, the print instruction unit 11 accepts the instruction and stops the print instruction until the interrupt processing is completed. Further, when an interruption instruction is given from the interruption instruction unit 20, the print instruction unit 11 interrupts the printing of the file currently being printed, and when there is a file to be printed next, issues a print instruction to the file. .

Although the description in the above embodiment has been made with reference to a facsimile apparatus, the present invention is not limited to this, and can be applied to a data processing apparatus such as a printer or a copying machine. Of course.

[0034]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily and quickly grasp the type of the file currently being printed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, it is possible to stop printing of an unnecessary file and shift to printing of another file. For this reason, the printing time can be shortened, and the paper can be saved. In addition, when a large amount of data is being printed, an emergency process can be performed by interruption, so that a user's wasted time can be reduced and mental annoyance can be eliminated.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing functions of one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart illustrating the operation of the second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing a hardware configuration of a facsimile apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

[Explanation of symbols]

11: print instruction unit, 12: reception information storage unit, 13:
Electronic copy information storage unit, 14: communication report information storage unit, 15: manual setting information storage unit, 16: file information storage unit during printing, 17: printer, 18: display unit

────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) References JP-A-5-260240 (JP, A) JP-A-5-145719 (JP, A) JP-A-1-190076 (JP, A) JP-A-4-199 273766 (JP, A) JP-A-4-100474 (JP, A) JP-A-4-301484 (JP, A) JP-A-63-6956 (JP, A) JP-A-4-96565 (JP, A) (58) Field surveyed (Int. Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H04N 1/00-1/00 108

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A data processing apparatus comprising: a storage unit for storing data in a file format; and a unit for printing the data based on a print instruction from a control unit. A data processing apparatus comprising: a type storage unit; and a display unit that displays contents stored in the file type storage unit. 2. A data processing apparatus comprising: a storage unit for storing data in a file format; and a unit for printing the data based on a print instruction from a control unit. A data processing apparatus comprising: a type storage unit; a display unit that displays contents stored in the file type storage unit; and a unit that instructs interruption or interruption of the print.